Protection urged after student's slaying

More than 200 students from the University of Chicago protested against the recent fatal shooting of Chinese graduate Zheng Shaoxiong on Tuesday, demanding more safety measures from the university.

Protesters, many of them international students alongside some parents and professors, carried signs reading "Who is the next?" and "We are here to learn, not to die". They came up with a list of demands for the university, including more student buses and annual safety training for students and staff members.

Da Teng, a 23-year-old chemistry doctoral candidate from the university, said though Chinese people in the United States are traditionally known for being more politically inactive, they "really want to be heard this time".

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Teng said he can no longer tell students back in China that it is safe to study in Chicago.

"The next one to be shot could be anyone in this crowd," Teng said. "We need actions right now to stop the violence."

Zheng, 24, was fatally shot just before 2 pm on Nov 9 in the 900 block of East 54th Place while he was walking home from campus.

Alton Spann, 18, was charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in the killing.

Rising violence

According to some media outlets, a spokesperson for the University of Chicago said the university had increased campus police patrols and is working with the city to develop a security strategy.

In response to questions from the media, Chicago police officials said they will not disclose their deployment and patrol arrangements.

Zheng is the third student from the university that was killed this year.

In July, Max Lewis was fatally struck by a stray bullet while riding on the Chicago Transit Authority Green Line near 51st Street.

In January, Fan Yiran, a 30-year-old Chinese doctoral student, was shot dead in a killing spree.

Rising violence has taken the lives of several Chinese students studying in the US in recent years.

Zhang Yingying, a visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was kidnapped and murdered in June 2017 by Brendt Allen Christensen, a former physics graduate student at the university.

Jiang Yue, a 19-year-old Arizona State University student, died after being shot numerous times in a road rage incident in January 2016.

Ming Qu and Ying Wu, electrical engineering graduate students at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, were shot to death in their car parked around a kilometer from the campus during an attempted robbery in April 2012. The killers are serving life sentences without parole eligibility.