A man who pleaded no contest to two apparently random stabbings, including the murder of a 17-year-old high school student who was waiting for his mother outside an El Sereno restaurant, was sentenced Tuesday to 24 years to life in state prison.
David Anthony Zapata, 35, pleaded no contest May 6 to second-degree murder for the March 3, 2023 stabbing of Xavier Chavarin, along with attempted murder involving the stabbing of Daniel Villalobos the same day, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Speaking directly to the defendant in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom, Daniel Chavarin said, “You’re a coward. You killed my son,” noting that his son was a straight-A student.
The teen’s family had said earlier that he was set to graduate from Woodrow Wilson High School that June, collapsed later and died inside the restaurant while trying to get help.
The attacks appeared to be random, and neither of the victims knew Zapata, who approached them from out of nowhere and seemingly for no reason, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
At a news conference announcing the charges in 2023, then-District Attorney George Gascón said the teenager was waiting for his mother that afternoon when Zapata approached him from behind and “without warning stabbed him.”
The attack occurred in the 4500 block of Valley Boulevard.
Zapata approached Villalobos about five hours later as he stood in a parking lot in the 5400 block of Valley Boulevard and stabbed him, the then-district attorney said.
“Luckily, Daniel was able to push his attacker off of him and run away,” Gascón said, adding that the victim was “lucky to be alive.”
Zapata was arrested less than a week later following an hours-long standoff at the Alhambra home where he lived with family members, authorities said.
Los Angeles Police Dept. Cmdr. German Hurtado told reporters soon afterward that negotiators were eventually able to convince him to come out of the house, assuring him that he would not be harmed.
Hurtado said then that the suspect “has mental health prior incidents,” although he declined to elaborate. After the arrest, Hurtado said Alhambra police indicated that “he has been a problem in this neighborhood.”
Zapata has remained behind bars since his arrest.
Soon after the crimes occurred, Los Angeles police Lt. Ryan Rabbett had called the attacks “senseless.”
“These were senseless attacks — no confrontation, no words exchanged, really just spontaneous,” said the lieutenant, who described the weapon used in both of the attacks as a “very large knife.”