An Alhambra man was sentenced Tuesday, June 30, to 24 years to life in prison for stabbing to death a 17-year-old boy, then trying to kill a man in separate attacks in El Sereno three years ago, officials said.
David Anthony Zapata, 35, had pleaded no contest on May 6 to murder and to attempted murder.
The sentencing was held at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles.
Authorities called the crimes senseless.
“Defendant did not know either victim,” said Pamela Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. “Both incidents appeared random and entirely unprovoked.”
Xavier Chavarin, a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School, stood in front of King Torta on the 4500 block of Valley Boulevard, waiting for his mother to pick him up the afternoon of March 3, 2023.
Zapata approached from behind and stabbed Chavarin in the back. The teen died at the scene.
The second stabbing happened five hours later, in front of Valley Food Liquor on the 5400 block of Valley. The victim, Daniel Villalobos, survived the attack.
“Everything happened so fast,” Villalobos told KTLA in 2023. “I was just trying to keep my blood on my body. I was losing a lot of blood.”
A tip led investigators to the 2300 block of Westmont Drive in Alhambra on March 8, 2023 where Zapata was arrested after a standoff.
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