Search for Man Wanted in Teen’s Stabbing Death in El Sereno Leads to Police Standoff in Alhambra

Police responded to an Alhambra neighborhood early Wednesday in the search for a man sought in two apparently random stabbings in El Sereno.

One of the stabbings left a high school student dead. The second stabbing victim is a father of three.

Officers are in the 2300 block of Westmont Drive where a man is barricaded inside a residence, authorities said. 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 were at the scene. A crisis negotiation team also responded.

No one else is in the house, police said. Details about the attacker’s identity were not immediately available.

Refresh this page for updates on the standoff.

The families of both victims told NBC4 they believe they were random attacks. Police have not confirmed that yet, but they said the same man is connected to both stabbings.

New surveillance video 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.

A Woodrow Wilson High School student was stabbed to death Friday and surveillance footage shows a man who was at the scene carrying a knife. Alex Rozier reports for the NBC4 News on March 7, 2023.

“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 a 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.

Anyone with any information is asked to call the LAPD, specifically Central Bureau Homicide.