A man believed to be the suspect in the brazen and fatal stabbing of a high school student last week is locked inside an Alhambra home surrounded by police, authorities said Wednesday.
The man, whose name has not been released, is the suspect in the murder of 17-year-old Xavier Chavarin, who was described by the family as an outstanding student and loving son.
A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman confirmed that units from the gang and narcotics division had surrounded the home in the 2300 block of Westmont Drive around 7 a.m. An LAPD SWAT team is responding to the scene, he said.
The suspect had armed himself with a knife and was barricaded alone in the house, the spokesman said. Police have not contacted him.
The Friday afternoon murder shocked the city for its brutality, with surveillance footage showing a black-clad assailant approaching the victim in broad daylight in a parking lot on Valley Boulevard in El Sereno while brandishing a long sword. .
Footage released Tuesday by police ends with the assailant putting both hands on the knife, pulling it back, then swinging it at something just outside the video frame.
The same person is believed to have stabbed a 33-year-old man on Valley Boulevard later that night, police said.
In that attack, the assailant approached a man and stabbed him multiple times without saying a word, police said. The second victim survived.
The suspect is described as a man with long wavy black hair and a long beard and can be seen in the video wearing a black jacket, black T-shirt and black pants. His vehicle was described as a black Honda CR-V manufactured between 1996 and 2001.