An Alhambra man was charged on Friday, March 10, with fatally stabbing a 17-year-old boy as well as later stabbing and wounding a man last week in the Los Angeles neighborhood of El Sereno.
If convicted as charged, David Anthony Zapata faces a possible maximum sentence of 40 years to life in prison, District Attorney George Gascon said.
Zapata, 32, is charged with the murder of Xavier Daniel Chavarin and the attempted murder of Daniel Villalobos, 33,
Chavarin was a straight-A student and a senior at Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in El Sereno.
“Tragically, a family is again mourning the loss of a child to an act of violence,” Gascón said during a Friday press conference at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles. “Xavier didn’t even have a chance to fulfill his full potential. By all accounts he had a bright future ahead of him before his life was cut short when he was fatally stabbed from behind.”
The district attorney said that, thankfully, Villalobos was able to fend off the attacker. Villalobos was released from the hospital on Thursday.
“We believe we know who committed these heinous acts, but we don’t know why,” Gascon said. “We may never know why.”
Investigators have not yet found the second suspect who they believe picked up Zapata after the teenager’s fatal stabbing.
Zapata didn’t know the two victims, said Lt. Ryan Rabbett of the Los Angeles Police Department, adding that there were no confrontations or words before the stabbings.
“These were senseless attacks,” the lieutenant said.
Chavarin’s father and one of his grandmothers were at the press conference but didn’t speak to reporters.
Los Angeles police arrested Zapata on Wednesday, March 8, after a nearly two-hour standoff at a home in the 2300 block of Westmont Drive in Alhambra, where a neighbor said Zapata and his grandmother has lived for about a year.
Chavarin was attacked shortly before 4 p.m. on March 3 as he stood in front of King Torta in the 4500 block of…
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