Thursday, July 31  12:45 A.M.

One week ago, someone was fatally assaulted here.

It's a brightly lit three-way intersection, with a church on one corner and a yellow apartment complex on another. Directly across the street from where Ji is believed to have been attacked before making his way to his apartment on the next street is the entrance to a USC-owned graduate student residence. During the school year, officers from the Los Angeles Police Dept. like to cruise this block and see if they can catch students committing traffic violations on their bicycles.

READ MORE: Safety, The Trojan Compromise

Formal warnings are posted, as they are throughout the University Park neighborhood, that state that the area is under video survelliance, a testament perhaps to the speed with which the suspects for last Thursday's murder were identified, apprehended and charged.

READ MORE: 5 Arrested In Connection With USC Grad Student Murder

The area is not busy, but for the few minutes we are there, several cars and one USC shuttle pass by. There are also several Dept. of Public Safety officers in the area, no doubt on extra alert after last week's incident.

It may sadden and shock us to say so, but it happened here.

Sometimes, there are risks we can't prepare for. Sometimes, there are tragedies that happen against all odds.

Xinran Ji, from your neighbor and your fellow Trojan, rest in peace.

Photos by Alex Zelenty.

Contact Senior Opinion Editor Francesca Bessey here; follow her here.