On Tuesday, June 30, 2026, a Los Angeles judge sentenced David Anthony Zapata to 24 years to life in state prison for a pair of El Sereno stabbings that left a teenage student dead and another man seriously wounded. The violence on March 3, 2023, claimed the life of 17-year-old Woodrow Wilson High School student Xavier Chavarin, who was waiting for his mother outside a restaurant when he was attacked.
What the court decided
Zapata, 35, pleaded no contest on May 6 to second-degree murder in Chavarin’s killing and to attempted murder in the stabbing of Daniel Villalobos, clearing the way for this week’s sentencing, according to ABC7. He has been in custody since his arrest in March 2023.
How the attacks unfolded
Authorities say the two attacks unfolded within hours on March 3, 2023, along the same stretch of Valley Boulevard. Chavarin was stabbed on the 4500 block, and later that day Villalobos was wounded on the 5400 block of the same street. Investigators tracked Zapata down five days later and arrested him after an hourslong standoff at a home in the 2300 block of Westmont Drive in Alhambra. The LAPD had released surveillance images of the suspect as they searched for him, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Family reaction and context
During Tuesday’s hearing, members of the Chavarin family faced Zapata in court and delivered emotional statements. Xavier’s father told him, “You’re a coward. You killed my son,” according to NBC Los Angeles. Relatives and classmates have remembered Xavier as a straight-A senior getting ready to graduate, and community members say the apparently random nature of the stabbings has left El Sereno residents shaken.
Earlier reporting and the investigation
Earlier coverage of the case examined Zapata’s background and described signs of mental-health struggles that some family members and neighbors say went untreated, raising broader questions about prevention and public-safety systems, according to The Los Angeles Times. Prosecutors have characterized both attacks as unprovoked and said neither Chavarin nor Villalobos knew Zapata.
Sentence and aftermath
The 24-years-to-life term effectively closes the criminal case, but the impact of the attacks continues to ripple through Xavier’s family and the wider El Sereno community, according to local coverage. Prosecutors have maintained that the stabbings appeared random and unrelated to anything the victims did, and Zapata will serve his sentence in state prison, ABC7 reported.
