Current:Home > MyWhy a USC student won't be charged in fatal stabbing of alleged car thief near campus -Ascend Wealth Education
Why a USC student won't be charged in fatal stabbing of alleged car thief near campus
View
Date:2025-04-16 21:55:56
A University of Southern California student who fatally stabbed a suspected car burglar was acting in self-defense and won't be charged, the top prosecutor in Los Angeles announced on Thursday.
Ivan Gallegos, a 19-year-old business student, will not face charges in the Monday stabbing on an off-campus Greek Row street after prosecutors reviewed all the evidence, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said.
"We believe that Mr. Gallegos’ actions were driven by a genuine fear for his life and the lives of others," Gascón said in a statement to USA TODAY. "Our heart goes out to the deceased’s family, friends and everyone impacted by this tragic incident."
Xavier Cerf, a 27-year-old whom police said was homeless, allegedly broke into a car on the street when Gallegos and two other men confronted him. The altercation left Cerf on the ground with multiple stab wounds and he later died at the scene, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Gallegos was initially booked on a murder charge and held on a $2 million bail, while the other two men were questioned and released at the scene.
Gallegos told police that he believed Cerf had a gun but officers did not find one, the Los Angeles Times and ABC7 reported.
Gallegos' mother criticizes lack of campus safety
In a GoFundMe webpage created to support Gallegos that no longer exists, his mother Violet said her son acted in self-defense, according to the Los Angeles Times. She said he was only in that situation due to a lack of safety measures around the USC campus.
"Those who know Ivan know that he is a role model not only to this generation but to his community," Violet wrote on Facebook.
David Carlisle, Assistant Chief of USC's Department of Public Safety, said department would have preferred if Gallegos used the school's mobile safety app to notify officials about the situation. He said the university deploys a hundred private security officers everyday that are strategically placed in bright red and yellow jackets around the area.
"Because we're trained to handle situations like that," Carlisle told USA TODAY. "The safety of our student community is our highest priority."
Gallegos is an aspiring musician who overcame growing up in an environment filled with drugs, gangs and prostitution in East Los Angeles, according to a USC Annenberg Media profile about him published last month.
Gallegos founded a nonprofit called Project Dream that "provides guidance and resources to marginalized communities impacted by gang violence, substance abuse and poverty," according to the profile.
Cerf's mother says he was not a violent kid
Cerf’s mother, Yema Jones, said her son has recently grappled with mental struggles following the death of some family members and that he was a peaceful person despite having a criminal record, the Los Angeles Times reported.
She said she hoped they would reunite when he returned home to Houston but was told Cerf had been stabbed several times and died over a phone call from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office.
"They’re making my son out to be a person that he’s not," Jones told the Times. "He was very vibrant. He loved to dance. He wasn’t a violent kid coming up."
Cerf posted videos of himself dancing on his TikTok page, where he had nearly 2,000 followers.
On a GoFundMe page, Jones wrote that she was trying to raise money to bring his body from California to Texas adding that "I just want my son home. He has a 3-year-old son ... I just want him laid to rest."
veryGood! (6)
Related
- Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
- Sharon Osbourne Shares Rare Photo of Kelly Osbourne’s Baby Boy Sidney
- Autoworkers are on the verge of a historic strike
- NASA UAP report finds no evidence of extraterrestrial UFOs, but some encounters still defy explanation
- Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
- Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs law restricting release of her travel, security records
- Preparing homes for wildfires is big business that's only getting started
- China promotes economic ‘integration’ with Taiwan while militarily threatening the island
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- U.S. Olympic Committee gives Salt Lake City go-ahead as bidder for future Winter Games
Ranking
- Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
- Texas AG Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial is almost over. This is what happened and what’s next
- How Latin music trailblazers paved the way to mainstream popularity
- Bus transporting high school volleyball team collides with truck, killing truck’s driver
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- Bill Maher says Real Time to return, but without writers
- See All of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Royally Sweet Moments at The Invictus Games in Germany
- US casinos have their best July ever, winning nearly $5.4B from gamblers
Recommendation
Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
Lahaina residents and business owners can take supervised visits to properties later this month
Kim Jong Un stops to see a fighter jet factory as Russia and North Korea are warned off arms deals
Indiana man charged with child neglect after 2-year-old finds gun on bed and shoots him in the back
Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
Missing plane found in southern Michigan with pilot dead at crash site
'DWTS' fans decry Adrian Peterson casting due to NFL star's 2014 child abuse arrest
Why are so many people behaving badly? 5 Things podcast