A woman who lives in the same apartment complex as the Christensens, which is made up of multiple buildings with a central parking lot, said she could not have imagined living so close to the person eventually arrested in connection with Zhang's disappearance.
Sarah Manzella, 20, who lives in an apartment building across from the one in which Christensen resides, said she had been looking for the car after its description came out but never realized the car was in the parking lot directly in front of her apartment.
"She was (in America) for a month. This should not have happened," Manzella said. "I want her family to get justice. It's just really disturbing. I don't even feel safe."
Others believe the situation was random and could have happened to anyone. Even though she received a flurry of messages from her parents concerned for her safety, Xuying “Clover” Tong, 22, who is from Shanghai and graduated in December, said the incident doesn’t make her feel like she’s in danger.
“This situation was inevitable,” Tong said in Mandarin near campus. “There’s no way you can prevent something like this from happening when you go somewhere. I think any college could have faced a similar situation, it’s not just unique to our school.”
Tong also said that because Zhang has a Chinese background, she may have felt rude to turn down someone insistent on helping her.
Xu said parents of Chinese students hear about gun violence but assume that it’s safer at school and many students come to the United States with the perception that Americans are exceptionally nice.
Chenyu “Paul” Zhu, 22, who is from Shanghai and recently graduated, agreed, saying that this perception is common but people should have their guard up no matter where they are.
“Every society has good people and bad people,” Zhu said. “It’s not strictly to this campus, like every other campus can happen, things like this. Just be wary and keep this in mind. Don’t trust strangers 100 percent.”
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