USC student charged with assault in handgun case

A 19-year-old USC student was charged Tuesday with making criminal threats and committing an assault with a handgun at a weekend party near campus.

Zao Xing Yang, an undergraduate, was arrested early Sunday morning after fellow students wrestled him to the ground when they saw him holding a .25-caliber handgun.

Police later searched Yang’s apartment and discovered packages of methamphetamine, a .44-caliber revolver, several hundred dollars in cash and “threatening materials,” police said.

Yang, who is being held without bail at Twin Towers jail in downtown Los Angeles, was charged with two counts of making criminal threats and two counts of assault with a firearm.

His arraignment was postponed until May 3.

His arrest comes a week after a Virginia Tech student fatally shot 32 people at the school, raising concerns about security on college campuses across the country.

“USC school police responded quickly, as did the Los Angeles Police Department,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a news conference Tuesday.

“No students were injured, and the suspect is in the process of being expelled from the university,” Villaraigosa said.

LAPD Chief William J. Bratton said the incident occurred about 3 a.m., when students at the party overheard Yang “make intimidating statements to a coed and threatening her with violence.”

“At one point, the host of the party asked Yang to leave,” Bratton said. “Yang began arguing with the host, and that’s when he noticed Yang had a gun in his hand.”

The students restrained Yang until campus security officers and police arrived at the house, in the 2300 block of Portland Street, Bratton said.

“We treat these types of incidents involving our universities or schools very seriously,” Bratton said.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles police said Tuesday that a 17-year-old student at Bishop Mora Salesian High School in Los Angeles was arrested for allegedly making criminal threats.

The arrest came after a student at the Catholic school found a letter Thursday threatening “violent acts against students and teachers,” authorities said.

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 richard.winton@latimes.com