LOS ANGELES — A man believed to be the suspect in the brazen fatal stabbing of a high school student last week was taken into custody Wednesday morning after barricading himself inside an Alhambra home, authorities said.
The man, whose name has not been released, is the suspect in the killing of Xavier Chavarin, 17, who was described by family as a straight-A student and a loving son.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department said units from the gang and narcotics division surrounded the home in the 2300 block of Westmont Drive around 7 a.m.
The suspect was armed with a knife and barricaded alone in the home, the spokesperson said.
LAPD Cmdr. German Hurtado said a crisis negotiator was able to persuade the man that he would be safe and to walk out of the home. He was taken into custody without incident.
“I don’t want to taint the investigation, (but) he is not going to be able hurt anyone else,” Hurtado said.
The Friday afternoon killing shocked the city in its brutality, with surveillance footage showing a black-clad assailant approaching the victim around 3:55 p.m. in a parking lot on Valley Boulevard in the El Sereno neighborhood while brandishing a long blade.
The footage released Tuesday by police ends with the assailant putting both hands on the knife, pulling it back and then swinging it at something just outside the video’s frame.
Laura Frias, Xavier’s mother, told KNBC-TV that her son had been waiting for her outside a restaurant when he was stabbed, the station reported.
The same suspect is believed to have stabbed a 33-year-old man on the 5400 block of Valley Boulevard later that evening, police said.
A woman who works at Valley Food Liquor on the block where the second stabbing occurred remembered a strange customer who would buy a beer and cigars — but would not speak.
“He was weird, not normal. I always tried to be kind and nice, but he never answered. He is not friendly,” said the woman, who gave only her last name, Choi.
Police went to the liquor store Friday and showed her an image of the suspect, whom she immediately recognized.
In the second attack, the assailant approached a man and stabbed him numerous times without saying a word, police said. The second victim survived.
The suspect is described as a man with long, wavy black hair and a long beard and can be seen in the video wearing a black jacket, T-shirt and pants. His vehicle was described as a black, 1996 to 2001 Honda CR-V.
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(Los Angeles Times staff writer Jessica Perez contributed to this report.)
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