Jing Yixin was detained at the Mexican border earlier this month
A man accused of gunning down his wife and a man at an Asian restaurant in Monterey Park pleaded not guilty today to two counts of murder.
Jing Yixin, 38, of Monterey Park, who is being held without bail, is also facing a gun allegation. No special circumstance allegation of multiple murders is included in the criminal complaint.
He was ordered to return to court on June 10, when a date is expected to be set for a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.
Yixin, who appears in jail records as Yixin Jing, was detained by a task force of investigators at the Mexican border on April 6, the day after the shooting, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The victims are named in the criminal complaint only as Jane and John Doe. But the sheriff’s department identified the woman as Ling Ling Wang, 36, while the male victim was identified by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office as Zhaiming Li, 37, of Pomona.
The shooting occurred around 6:30 p.m. April 5 at the Music BBQ Bar and restaurant in the 500 block of West Garvey Avenue, east of Atlantic Boulevard. The victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body and were pronounced dead at the scene, according to Deputy Tracy Koerner of the sheriff’s department.
“Homicide detectives, with the assistance of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, and the FBI/LAPD Fugitive Task Force, detained the suspect at the Mexican border Tuesday,” according to an LASD statement released earlier this week. “Detectives believe suspect Yixin is the husband of victim Ling Ling Wang, and the father of two children they share — daughters age 9 and 12.”
Sheriff’s Lt. Charles Calderaro told reporters at the scene that “it does not appear to be any random act or hate crime. It appears that this individual targeted these individuals.”
