After an hours-long standoff in Alhambra with SWAT and Los Angeles police, a suspect accused in the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Xavier Chavarin, was taken into custody on March 8.
Law enforcement surrounded the location of the suspect, identified as 33-year-old David Zepeda, who barricaded himself inside his family’s home in Alhambra on Wednesday morning.
Crisis negotiators were eventually able to get Zepeda to exit his home and surrender before being handcuffed by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers just after 9 a.m.
LAPD Cmdr. German Hurtado told reporters at a press conference following the arrest that the suspect has had previous “mental health incidents” but did not elaborate on the details of those events.
“He is in custody now. He is not going to be able to keep anybody else in danger, and it was done in a peaceful manner,” Hurtado said at the scene.
On March 3, victim Chavarin was waiting for his family to pick him up after school outside of an East Los Angeles restaurant. Shortly after 3:50 p.m., the suspect got out of a vehicle and approached Chavarin, stabbing him several times in the back “without cause,” according to LAPD. The suspect then fled the scene on foot.
The Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics attempted to save Chavarin when they arrived just after 4 p.m. but the teenager succumbed to his injuries and died at the scene. LAPD obtained surveillance footage of the incident, which showed Zepeda wielding a large knife.
When police arrived and began their investigation, they connected the same suspect to another stabbing that occurred less than two miles away on the same day.
City News Service reported the suspect was wearing the same clothes in both incidents—a long black jacket, a black shirt underneath, black pants, black shoes, and a black baseball hat with white lettering. The other victim survived.
Chavarin was a straight-A student at Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in Los Angeles who was to graduate in a few months, according to his family.
“It breaks my heart, the fact that they just took him away from me,” Chavarin’s mother Laura Frias told reporters during a vigil earlier this week. “I don’t know what to say, just so heartbroken—he was my love, my everything.”
Relatives described Chavarin as a “very kind and respectful person to everyone” and said they are deeply saddened by the incident.
“He was very humble and was a good student with excellent grades,” his aunt, Rose, told The Epoch Times on behalf of his family via text message. “You were such a light to all of us with your laughs and will always hold a special place in our hearts. We love you Xavier our baby and we all miss you so much.”
Chavarin’s aunt and uncle set up a Go Fund Me page on March 6 to help with memorial funds. Originally set at $25,000, the family has raised over $40,000 as of March 8.
More than 10 counselors have been added to the high school’s staff to support students who are grieving this week.
LAPD homicide detectives will provide more details on the suspect’s arrest on March 9.
