Suspect in fatal stabbing of 17-year-old student is in standoff with police at his Alhambra home

A man believed to be the suspect in the brazen and fatal stabbing of a high school student last week is barricaded inside an Alhambra home surrounded by police, authorities said Wednesday.

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 with the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that units from the gang and narcotics division had surrounded the home in the 2300 block of Westmont Drive around 7 a.m. An LAPD SWAT team is responding to the scene, she said.

The suspect had armed himself with a knife and was barricaded alone in the home, the spokesperson said. Police have not made contact with him.

The Friday afternoon killing shocked the city in its brutality, with surveillance footage showing a black-clad assailant approaching the victim in broad daylight in a parking lot on Valley Boulevard in El Sereno 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.

The same person is believed to have stabbed a 33-year-old man on Valley Boulevard later that evening, police said.

In that 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, a black T-shirt and black pants. His vehicle was described as a black Honda CR-V made between 1996 and 2001.