The Alhambra man accused of stabbing to death a teenager last week outside a restaurant in the Los Angeles community of El Sereno was picked up by a driver afterward, police said on Thursday, March 9 — hours before authorities say he struck again, stabbing and wounding a man.
“Both incidents were completely unprovoked,” said Lt. Ryan Rabbett of the March 3 stabbings, one killing 17-year-old Xavier Chavarin as he waited for his mother. “These victims were attacked for no apparent reason.”
The driver was in a small SUV, a 1996 to 2001 Honda CR-V, authorities said at a press conference at the Los Angeles Police Department’s headquarters. They did not elaborate but called the motorist a suspect in the first stabbing.
Acting on tips, surveillance footage and witness accounts, police, Wednesday morning, March 8, went to the Alhambra home of David Zapata, 32, and after a two-hour standoff persuaded him to come out and arrested him for murder.
Both stabbings occurred less than two miles apart. Chavarin was stabbed that afternoon multiple times in the back outside the King Torta restaurant in the 4500 block of Valley Boulevard before stumbling inside, while the second victim, a 33-year-old man, was stabbed five hours later in front of Valley Food & Liquor in the 5400 block on the same street. The man was expected to recover.
In the second stabbing, the suspect was seen on surveillance footage with a skateboard.
LAPD officials have said Zapata had undergone mental-health evaluations following previous arrests without elaborating.
“We did attempt to interview Mr. Zapata,” Lt. Rabbett said at Thursday’s press conference. “I will tell you that his mental health is no reason for what he did.”
The lieutenant would not comment when asked what was said, if anything, between Zapata and the victims before the stabbings. Detectives had no evidence to suggest Zapata tried to rob the victims, police said.
At the Thursday press conference, Rabbett said Zapata has seven misdemeanor arrests on his record. The lieutenant did not describe them.
Neighbors told the Southern California News Group that Zapata lived at the apartment with his grandmother.