Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has confirmed that one of the men charged with murdering a 24-year-old USC graduate student had entered the country illegally seven years ago.
On Wednesday, Jonathan DelCarmen told ICE officials in an interview at the Los Angeles County jail where he is being detained in connection with the murder of Xinran Ji that he had entered the country illegally, reported the Los Angeles Times. A spokesperson for ICE, Virginia Kice, said that “ICE has lodged an immigration detainer against Mr. DelCarmen requesting that the Sheriff’s Department turn him over to ICE for possible follow-up immigration enforcement action if and when he is released from local custody.”
DelCarmen and three other teenagers allegedly accosted the engineering student who was walking home near campus at about 12:45 a.m. from a study group. The foursome then allegedly beat him with a baseball bat. According to Detectives, Ji may have tried to get away from his attackers, but they caught up to him only to beat him a second time. Amazingly, Ji made it back to his apartment, but his body was found by his roommate later that morning. The student who was here from China had suffered severe head wounds from the assault.
The three others who were charged in connection with Ji’s death were identified as Andrew Garcia, 18; Alberto Ochoa, 17; and Alejandra Guerrero, 16.
The Times also reported that after Ji was attacked the four teens drove to Dockweiler State Beach, where Garcia, Ochoa, and Guerrero allegedly assaulted and tried to rob a man and a woman, but the man escaped and was able to find a police officer who was patrolling the vicinity. According to a criminal complaint, the three allegedly used a bat again at the beach, and Ochoa and Guerrero also used a knife.