The 19-year-old was arrested for stabbing a man who was attempting to break into a car near the Lambda Chi Alpha and Delta Tau Delta fraternity houses on Monday evening.
Xavier Cerf’s mother, Yema Jones, began a fundraiser on GoFundMe entitled, “Help Bring Xavier Cerf Home” on Thursday afternoon. The campaign has raised $260 of its $8,000 goal to cover the cost of transporting her son’s body back to Texas from California.
“Anything will help, I just want my son home,” Jones wrote on the webpage. “He has a 3 year old son I just want him laid to rest &’d at peace [sic].”
Cerf died Monday evening in a fatal stabbing on Greek Row while he was allegedly attempting to break into a car near the Lambda Chi Alpha and Delta Tau Delta fraternity houses. Ivan Gallegos, the 19-year-old USC student accused of fatally stabbing Cerf, will not be charged with killing the 27-year-old, according to prosecutors.
Although Jones acknowledged that her son had a criminal record in California and Texas, she said Cerf was a kind and “vibrant” person.
“I’m never going to paint a pretty picture about my son. I’m just going to give you facts. Everybody goes through life issues,” Jones said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “Regardless, he was still a father. He was still a brother. He was still a son. It didn’t have to go that far.”
Cerf is survived by his mother and his 3-year-old son, Anthony.
Ivan Gallegos, the student accused of fatally stabbing Xavier Cerf amid an alleged car burglary, will not be charged with killing the 27-year-old, according to prosecutors.
“We have decided not to pursue charges against … Gallegos,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “We believe that Mr. Gallegos’s actions were driven by a genuine fear for his life and the lives of others.”
Cerf is survived by his 3-year-old son and mother.
“Our heart goes out to the deceased’s family, friends and everyone impacted by this tragic incident,” Gascón said.
A second GoFundMe campaign supporting Ivan Gallegos’ case was taken down Wednesday. The first had been taken down earlier that day. Donations from both campaigns were refunded. Friends and family are fundraising through direct payment platforms including Zelle and Venmo.
Friends and family of Ivan Gallegos created a GoFundMe entitled “Justice for Ivan” on Tuesday evening to help raise the money to pay for his $2 million bail.
Ivan “found himself in a precarious situation due to the lack of safety measures around his campus,” Violet Gallegos, Ivan Gallegos’s mother, wrote on the fundraiser’s webpage.
“After hearing a car alarm, Ivan and two friends went to investigate and discovered a man inside his friend’s car. When they approached and asked the man to leave, he claimed the car as his own and said he had a gun,” the webpage read. “Feeling their lives were in danger, Ivan and his friends continued to demand the intruder leave the vehicle and the premises.”
Shortly after Gallegos and his friends confronted the man in the vehicle, the man “began reaching for his waist,” and Gallegos fatally stabbed the man “in self defense,” the webpage claimed.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Magazine, Gallegos’s friends said they called the police to report the car break-in prior to the altercation.
The two friends, who spoke to the Magazine on the condition of anonymity, “would not say where [Gallegos’s] knife came from or how many times Gallegos stabbed the man.”
As of the time of publication, the GoFundMe has raised $3,140.
Correction: A previous version of this article misattributed the statement that Ivan Gallegos’s friends “called the police before the altercation began … [but] not long after, the man was dead,” to Gallegos’s friends in an interview with Los Angeles Magazine. This article was updated June 18 at 10:16 p.m. to reflect that the statement is a quotation from a Los Angeles Magazine article titled “‘He Feared for His Life’ — Friends Say USC Student Stabbed Man in Self-Defense.” The Daily Trojan regrets this error.
The man killed near the 700 block of West 28th Street on Monday evening was 27 years old, the Los Angeles Police Department wrote press release Tuesday evening. The release did not provide the victim’s name or any further details about his identity.
According to the statement, two other men were with USC student Ivan Gallegos at the time of the incident.The LAPD questioned the two men before releasing them at the scene and arresting Gallegos on suspicion of murder.
The LAPD’s investigation into the stabbing is ongoing and will be brought to the office of the Los Angeles County District Attorney for “filing consideration.” The statement did not provide a timeline for further action.
The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested a 19-year-old USC student in connection to a fatal stabbing at Greek Row on Monday evening. Officers responded to the stabbing, which was reported around 8:15 p.m., and the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the LAPD, the victim was a man in his 30s who appeared to be homeless. The victim was attempting to break into a car by the Lambda Chi Alpha and Delta Tau Delta fraternity house when Ivan Gallegos — a member of USC DTD — confronted the man and stabbed him multiple times.
Gallegos remained at the scene before being detained. He is currently being held on $2 million bail.
According to Los Angeles Police Department Chief Dominic Choi, Gallegos told police that the victim had threatened him with a gun, though law enforcement did not recover a gun at the scene.
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner has still not identified the victim or shared his name with the public.
