The mother of the man who was killed on USC’s Greek Row Monday night said she was left with many unanswered questions after the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office decided not to file charges against the USC student who fatally stabbed her son.
Yema Jones, the mother of Xavier Cerf, who died Monday night in the 700 block of West 28th Street, east of University Avenue after being found with stab wounds outside a fraternity house, said she is angry, confused and broken after the county prosecutor’s office decided not to pursue charges against Ivan Gallegos.
“You took a life. You took my son. You took my baby, my baby,” Jones said.
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While police described 27-year-old Cerf as a transient who was breaking into cars when approached by 19-year-old Gallegos, Jones said the students’ actions were not justified.
“You all mean to tell me you couldn’t call campus security or hold him down without hurting him? Jones said. “It’s three of you all against one. One had a pole, and one had a knife. I feel it was already your intention to do what you all did.”
Jones, who lives in Texas, said her slain son had moved to Los Angeles in February.
Cerf had spent time at a San Pedro hospital to seek mental health treatments and was released on the day he was killed, his mom said.
While Jones doesn’t believe her son was homeless, she said even if he was breaking into cars, it still shouldn’t have led to his death.
“There's three of you. You all could have held him down,” Jones said. “To stab him not once, but multiple times – He was harmless. You all found nothing on him, absolutely nothing, except his medication. And you tell me that’s justice.”
Police said Cerf had locked himself into a car. When Gallegos and two others told him to get out, Cerf said the car was calling to him, police said.
When Cerf finally got out of the vehicle, police said he claimed to have a gun and reached for his waist, which prompted Gallegos to stab him.
“We believe that Mr. Gallegos’s actions were driven by a genuine fear for his life and the lives of others,” the DA’s Office said. “Our heart goes out to the deceased’s family, friends and everyone impacted by this tragic incident.“
