Reward offered in slayings of 2 Chinese students

University of Southern California students bring flowers to the site of the slayings of their friends, two USC graduate students shot early Wednesday, April 11, 2012, in Los Angeles. Police said a gunman opened fire on a BMW near the University of Southern California campus on Wednesday, killing two international students from China in what may have been a bungled carjacking attempt. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LOS ANGELES  — Authorities are offering a $125,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot and killed two Chinese graduate students near the University of Southern California this week.

Police and USC officials made the announcement Friday in the case of Ming Qu and Ying Wu. The 23-year-old electrical engineering students were shot while sitting in a car in an off-campus neighborhood.

Authorities have not yet released a description of the shooter, who fled on foot in the rain.

Investigators said the attack Wednesday might have been part of a robbery or attempted carjacking, but other possibilities have not been discounted.

School officials initially said both students were from Beijing but now say Wu was from Hunan and Qu was from Jilin.