Harry Nicholas "Nick" Rice (1952 – July 20, 1970) was an American University of Kansas student who was shot and killed by Lawrence police officer Jimmy Joe Stroud during civil unrest near the university campus. Rice, aged 18, was an uninvolved bystander. Stroud had fired a .30-caliber carbine at another person who was attempting to ignite an overturned car and struck Rice in the back of the neck.
The initial investigation and a coroner's inquest did not publicly identify the shooter, and no criminal charges were filed. Investigative records obtained by Rice's family in 2020 showed that a bullet recovered near where he fell had been fired from Stroud's rifle, but a police captain's handling of the bullet broke the chain of custody. In 2026, the city of Lawrence installed a historical marker at the site of the shooting that names Stroud.
On January 16, 2016, Yue Jiang (), a 19-year-old Chinese student at Arizona State University (ASU), was fatally shot in Tempe, Arizona, after a minor traffic collision. Holly Davis, whose car had struck the rear of Jiang's car at a red light, approached the driver's side and fired several times. Jiang, who had been hit three times, attempted to drive away but collided with an oncoming vehicle. She died at a hospital. Six other people sustained injuries in the incident.
Davis fled but was arrested later that day. She was initially charged with first-degree murder and thirteen other offenses. In 2018, she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder under an agreement requiring a 25-year prison term. Jiang's family opposed the agreement and unsuccessfully asked the judge to reject it. Davis was sentenced to 25 years without the possibility of early release on June 15, 2018.
On May 16, 2010, Yao Yu (), a 23-year-old Chinese woman who had recently arrived in the United States, was beaten and sexually assaulted by Carlos Salazar Cruz in Flushing, Queens, New York City. Yao was attacked with a metal pipe while walking home from grocery shopping, then dragged into a driveway beside a residential building. She sustained severe head injuries and died several days later.
Cruz was arrested near the scene after a witness called 911 and identified him to police. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February 2011 and was sentenced that April to 22 years to life in prison. The killing led to vigils, self-defense programs, demands for additional police protection, and the formation of a volunteer neighborhood patrol in Flushing.
Yao's name is rendered in New York court records and much of the local English-language coverage as Yu Yao. Her Chinese name, 姚宇, follows the Chinese convention of placing the family name first and is romanized as Yao Yu.
In the early hours of July 24, 2014, Xinran Ji (), a 24-year-old Chinese graduate student at the University of Southern California (USC), was fatally beaten during an attempted robbery near the university's campus in Los Angeles, California. Ji was attacked with a baseball bat and a wrench while returning to his apartment after a study session. Although seriously injured, he reached his apartment, where a roommate found him dead several hours later.
Four teenagers—Andrew Garcia, Alberto Ochoa, Alejandra Guerrero, and Jonathan Del Carmen—were prosecuted in connection with the killing and a robbery at Dockweiler State Beach later that morning. Garcia and Ochoa were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The murder convictions initially entered against Guerrero and Del Carmen were later vacated following changes in California law; Guerrero was resentenced for voluntary manslaughter in 2025, while Del Carmen's offense was redesignated as attempted robbery in 2021.
The killing drew particular attention among Chinese students in the United States and renewed debate about safety around USC. The university subsequently expanded patrols, surveillance, transportation, and safety education for international students.