Home / Crime and Justice / Man Gets 24 Years for Unprovoked Attacks
Man Gets 24 Years for Unprovoked Attacks
30 Jun
Summary
- A man received a 24-year sentence for two unprovoked 2023 stabbings.
- One victim was a 17-year-old student killed outside an El Sereno restaurant.
- The perpetrator was arrested after a lengthy standoff at his home.
A 35-year-old man, David Anthony Zapata, has been sentenced to 24 years to life in state prison for two random stabbing incidents that occurred in 2023. The sentencing took place on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. Zapata pleaded no contest to second-degree murder for the March 3, 2023, stabbing death of 17-year-old Xavier Chavarin, a Woodrow Wilson High School student.
Chavarin was fatally stabbed while waiting for his mother outside a restaurant in El Sereno. Prosecutors stated that Zapata approached the student seemingly for no reason. Later the same day, Zapata attacked Daniel Villalobos, stabbing him on Valley Boulevard. Villalobos survived this unprovoked assault.
Zapata was arrested five days after the stabbings following an hours-long standoff with police at his home in Alhambra. He has remained in custody since his arrest. The attacks were described by authorities as completely unprovoked, with the victims having no prior connection to Zapata.
