LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Two USC students were murdered Wednesday morning in what may have been an attempted carjacking in front of a home in the West Adams area.

Officials say the victims, Ying Wu and Ming Qu, were sitting in a BMW in the 2700 block of Raymond Avenue with hazard lights on when they were approached by an armed man at 1 a.m., according to KNX 1070′s John Brooks.

Qu was shot twice in the head.

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“He exited the car and went up onto one of the porches of a nearby house, asking for help, and our officers arrived and found him there,” Commander Andy Smith said.

Wu was also shot.

Both victims, who have been identified as graduate students from China, were declared dead at California Hospital.

Police hope to examine nearby surveillance video to identify the suspect.

While officials say it was too dark to get a good description of the shooter, there were several witnesses who said the shooter drove away in a dark-colored vehicle. However, police have not confirmed if the gunman fled on foot or by car.

Crime has dropped in the LAPD’s Southwest Division, which includes the USC campus. Only four murders have been reported since the beginning of the year.

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who admits he shot unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, was charged with murder today and has been taken into custody.

The charge of second degree murder was announced by Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey at a news conference this evening.

If convicted of the charges Zimmerman could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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“We have to have a reasonable certainty of conviction before filing charges,” the prosecutor said. A bond hearing will be held Thursday when Zimmerman can apply for bail, she said.

Zimmerman arrived at the Seminole County Jail in a motorcade of black SUVs, armed agents with automatic weapons guarding him at about 8:24 p.m.

Zimmerman went into the jail wearing what appeared to be a windbreaker or jacket over his head.

He will undergo a medical screening process and then county officials will evaluate whether or not he will go into general population.

Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s new lawyer, said this evening that he intended to seek his release at Thursday’s hearing and said that he spoke briefly with Zimmerman.

“He’s troubled by the fact that the state decided to charge him,” O’Mara said.

The lawyer also said Zimmerman is scared.

“I think anyone who is charged with second degree murder would be scared. Yes, he’s frightened,” O’Mara said.

Zimmerman, 28, a white Hispanic neighborhood watch captain, shot and killed Martin, who was 17 and black, on Feb. 26 after following the teenager for several minutes.

Corey opened her news conference by saying that she had spoken with Martin’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, when she took over the case last month and “we told those sweet parents” that they would get answers.

She also worried that the “overwhelming amount of publicity in this case” could complicate efforts to get an impartial jury, adding that there was “so much information on this case that was released that shouldn’t have been released.”

Martin’s parents said at a news conference this evening that were grateful that Zimmerman has been arrested.

“We simply wanted an arrest,” Sybrina Fulton said. “We got it and we say thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.”

Tracy Martin said, however, “This is just the beginning. We have a long way to go.. and we will march and march and march until the right thing is done.”

O’Mara said that the case has become emotionally charged and that his client “is concerned about getting a fair trial. We need to calm this down and it needs to be tried in a courtroom.”

He also said he is worried about Zimmerman’s safety.

“If he was walking down the street right now he would be at risk,” O’Mara said. “I’m hoping we can keep him safe.”

He added, “He is a client who has a lot of hatred focused on him.”

The charges are certain to provoke controversy in Sanford, Fla., where the shooting took place, and across the country.

Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett held a news conference this evening to ask for “continued calm in the city of Sanford, surrounding areas and across the nation.”

Earlier this week, Tripllett said his city has become a “kindling box” due to the high emotions surrounding the case, and that he would “plan for the worst and hope for the best.”

He also said that he had faith in the Sanford police department although it had declined to arrest Zimmerman after the shooting.

The case gained national prominence with rallies across the country demanding that Zimmerman be arrested and charged with murder. Zimmerman and his supporters say that the shooting had nothing to do with race and that he shot Martin in self-defense.

The U.S. Justice Department is also carrying out an investigation into the shooting.

Attorney General Eric Holder indicate today that the feds will have a higher bar to establish that the shooting was a hate crime.

“For a federal hate crime we have to prove the highest standard in the law it is something that was reckless, that was negligent… We have to show that there was a specific intent to do the crime with the requisite state of mind,” Holder said.

The city of Sanford has been getting increasingly tense as the decision neared. Six shots were fired into an empty police cruiser earlier this week in the neighborhood where Martin was killed.

The New Black Panther Party offered a $10,000 bounty for Zimmerman and his lawyers said Zimmerman had received death threats.

The New Socialist Movement, a white supremacy group, said they were patrol Sanford to protect whites and racists comments about the shooting have sprung up on social media sites.

Debate over the shooting became so widespread that even President Obama commented, saying if he had a son he would have looked like Trayvon Martin.
PHOTO: George Zimmerman mug shot from a 2005 arrest. Zimmerman is the

On his website, Zimmerman released a statement about the shooting this week, calling the incident a “life-altering event.”

“As a result of the incident and subsequent media coverage, I have been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately my entire life,” he wrote.

In a written statement to police on the night of the shooting, Zimmerman said that he’d called 911 to report a suspicious man and that as he returned to his car, Martin attacked him. Zimmerman said that Martin punched him in the nose and knocked him down, slammed his head on the ground and tried to take his gun.

The police report noted that Zimmerman was bleeding from the back of the head and nose. His lawyer said later that Zimmerman suffered a broken nose.

After Zimmerman received medical attention, it was decided that he was in good enough condition to travel in a police cruiser to the Sanford police station for questioning. He was not arrested.

A Detroit man is brutally killed at the park he loved and cared for. His heartbroken family wants justice for this callous crime.

Mike Cavanaugh loved Stoepel Park. There was a weeping willow tree he would sit under to take a nap. He would also listen to gospel music on his portable radio under the same tree. Sadly, that is also the place where he was brutally murdered in broad daylight.

“Just how much I really loved him, appreciated him,” said Kathy Johnson.

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That is what the victim’s sister would say if she could talk to her brother one more time. He left their house Monday after lunch to clean up Stoepel Park and take a nap. However, less than an hour after lunch Cavanaugh was dead.

“There’s nothing he could’ve done to somebody that could’ve made someone that angry, and I would like to know why,” Johnson said.

Cavanaugh was shot three times at the park, once in the head and again in the stomach.

Cavanaugh did not work, but his sister said he still had a very important job.

“He loved going to the park. He looked at it as being his home. He very much so cleaned it up all the time and was very angry with people that didn’t clean things up,” Johnson explained.

This is not the first time Cavanaugh was attacked by complete strangers. Ten years ago, he was jumped at a bus stop. He was in a coma for weeks and had permanent, severe brain damage.

Right now, police have few leads, but Johnson said she knows someone knows something.

“Please, we all have family members. We all have people that we love,” she said. “Please, please say something. Don’t just put a blind eye to it. Please speak up.”

Most people thought Cavanaugh was homeless because he slept in the park for hours and his brain injuries made him hard to understand, but Johnson said her brother had a heart of gold.

“He cared about Detroit and the neighborhood. He loved the Detroit Tigers, the Red Wings. He was a sports fan. He cared about people. He was a God loving person. He looked out for a lot of people. Loved animals. That’s who Mike was,” she told us. “I really would like to see the person that did this get caught and take responsibility, for it’s not going to bring my brother back, but it sure would help.”