Man Who Beat Chinese USC Student to Death in 2014 Gets Life Sentence

Andrew Garcia received a life in prison sentence without the possibility of parole on Wednesday, CBS Los Angeles reported. The 21-year-old was convicted on June 8 for the vicious murder of 24-year-old electrical engineering student, Xinran Ji.

The horrible incident happened on midnight of July 24, 2014 when Ji was walking home near South L.A. in USC after a late-night study session. Garcia and his group assaulted the victim using a blue baseball bat and a wrench. According to the reports, the group attacked Ji because he was Chinese and thought he had money in him at the time.

We lost the sunshine from our life. He was our only child. People our age are now planning weddings for sons and daughters. But every day for us, we are paying tribute to our son. We are completely heartbroken,” the victim’s father, Songbo Ji, said through a Mandarin translator.

According to NBC, 19-year-old Alejandra Guerrero, Garcia’s co-defendant, is still awaiting sentencing for the crime but believe she may face the same sentence of lifetime prison whtout parole. She was convicted of first-degree murder in October 2016.

Guerrero was also charged and found guilty of robbery, attempted robbery and assault with deadly weapon against a man and a woman at Dockweiler State Beach on the same night Ji was murdered – around two hours after the gruesome attack.

The two remaining suspects behind the attack, 22-year-old Jonathan Del Carmen and 20-year-old Alberto Ochoa, are still waiting trial.

Image via NBC Los Angeles