Student arrested for deadly stabbing on USC's Greek Row
Police have arrested a USC student in connection to a deadly stabbing that happened in the Greek Row area late Monday evening.
It happened around 8:15 p.m. in the 700 block of W. 28th Street, where officers arrived to find a man, believed to be homeless, unconscious and not breathing after being stabbed, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
USC student, Ivan Gallegos, 19, of Los Angeles has been identified by LAPD as the suspect. He is being held on $2 million bail.
Family members say that he is a member of the USC Marshall School of Business, which USC also later confirmed.
According to LAPD, the victim was trying to break into a car when he was confronted by Gallegos and two other males. The incident escalated to the point that Gallegos stabbed the man multiple times.
The victim, identified by police as 27-year-old Xavier Cerf, was pronounced dead at the scene and the suspect remained there before being detained.
USC campus police say that they are aware of the incident, but that LAPD is the lead in the investigation. Detectives questioned the other two men who initially confronted the victim but they were released at the scene.
SkyCal flew over the site of the stabbing, where what looked to be a large puddle of blood could be seen on the sidewalk outside of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house.
A woman at the house on Tuesday confirmed that Gallegos was a member of the fraternity and that he lived there.
She said that Gallegos' fraternity brothers told her what had happened when she arrived to work that morning.
"They are very sad, concerned, worried," she said. "Because young person life and future, and unfortunately happened bad for him and the other person."
Other students say that they've had an issue with break-ins recently, which they believe is a direct factor of the increased homeless population in the area.
USC's Department of Public Safety says that despite all of their resources, it's been a challenge for them to deal with the issue.
"Not uncommon for the homeless population to be walking fraternities, behind the house ... looking for unlocked doors," said Assistant Chief David Carlisle.