A man wanted in the stabbing death of a 17-year-old high school student in El Sereno was arrested Wednesday following a police standoff at an Alhambra home.
The man was sought in two apparently random stabbings in El Sereno, located northeast of downtown Los Angeles. One of the stabbings left a high school student dead. The second stabbing victim is a father of three.
Officers were in the 2300 block of Westmont Drive Wednesday morning where a man was barricaded inside a residence. The man appeared to be holding a knife when he was seen in a window of the home, police said.
At least two armored SWAT vehicles and a crisis negotiation team responded to the San Gabriel Valley neighborhood. The man was taken into custody just after 9 a.m. after surrendering to police. He was identified as 32-year-old David Zapata. He was being held on $2 million bail.
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"The crisis negotiators were able to convince him to step out, assured him of his safety and after a while he voluntarily came out and surrendered himself to the officers," said LAPD Commander German Hurtado.
No one else was in the house, police said.
There was no known relationship between the attacker and victims, police said at a Thursday news conference. There was no indication that the stabbings stemmed from a robbery attempt, police said.
Detectives said they are attempting to determine whether a second individual helped the suspect leave the scene of one of the crimes.
The families of both stabbing victims told NBC4 they believe they were random attacks.
New surveillance video released Tuesday showed the attacker with wavy hair, a beard and a hat walk up to the teen victim when he wasn’t looking and stab him in the back. The teenager who was killed Friday was identified as 17-year-old Xavier Chavarin, a student at Woodrow Wilson High School.
"It breaks my heart, the fact that they just took him away from me," said Laura Frias, the mother. "Perfect child, perfect child."
The stabbing was reported Friday just before 4 p.m. outside of the King Torta in El Sereno. Chavarin was a senior in high school and a straight-A student.
He was waiting for his mom to pick him after school when the attacker got out of an older model Honda CRV and killed him using a large knife.
"I want people whoever saw, seen, heard, if they saw the person, please spread the word and find the person who did this to my son," Frias said.
Police said they believe the same man stabbed another person outside Valley Food Liquor Friday, just five hours later and 1.6 miles away.
In the second attack, police said the man was not in a hat and on a skateboard when he stabbed a 33-year-old father in the back. Police said the man didn’t say anything and, when the victim wasn’t looking, he attacked him again using a large knife.
The second victim was able to escape.
Allie Choie, a clerk at the liquor store, said the suspect visited the establishment often. She said she always greeted him and treated him kindly, but he never responded. Following the attacks, Choie said she had nightmares about the man stabbing her too. Now that he's arrested, she feels some measure of relief.
"I feel much better. I feel safe," she said.
Anyone with any information on the stabbings is asked to call the LAPD, specifically Central Bureau Homicide.
