USC student Evan Gallegos and his two friends were walking down 28th Street in the heart of Greek Row when a roadblock caught their eye. Xavier Cerf,
Cerf, 27, whose mother said he had just been released from a mental health center and who police said was homeless, had allegedly vandalized a car on the street. Gallegos and his group confronted him.
Moments later, Cerf was lying on the ground with non-life-threatening stab wounds. Police arrived and soon took Gallegos into custody on suspicion of murder. Authorities say Gallegos stabbed Cerf repeatedly after an altercation. Gallegos remained at the scene after the stabbing and cooperated with police. He told authorities the suspected car thief had said he had a gun, but law enforcement sources said no gun was recovered at the scene.
Xavier Cerf, 27, was stabbed to death on June 17.
(Courtesy of Yema Jones)
There are still many unanswered questions about the moments before Cerf’s death, including why Gallegos and his friends decided to approach him. Los Angeles County prosecutors are now deciding whether to file criminal charges, and legal experts said the details of the confrontation will center on how the case proceeds.
In a GoFundMe campaign created to support Gallegos, his mother Violeta claimed her son was acting in self-defense when he attacked Cerf with a knife. According to the Post, Gallegos found himself in that situation “due to the lack of security measures around his premises.”
Meanwhile, Cerf’s mother, Yema Jones, said she is shocked by his death and is looking for answers. She said he has struggled mentally in recent years after the deaths of family members and at the time of his death, he was hoping to be with her in Houston. Although Cerf has a criminal record, Jones said he was a peaceful person.
“They’re making my son out to be someone he’s not,” Jones said. “He was very lively. He loved to dance. He wasn’t a violent kid.”
The question of danger
In California a person has a right to defend himself, but his response must be proportionate to the threat, according to defense attorney Mark Werksman, who is not working on the case.
“You can’t claim self-defense even though you’re the attacker,” Werksman said. “You can’t attack someone and then finish them off with deadly force and claim self-defense.”
Other states, such as Florida, have broader self-defense legal protections for people defending their homes or engaging in violent encounters in public, Werksman said.
Given California laws, former prosecutor and defense attorney Dmitry Gorin said if Cerf had attacked or threatened Gallegos, he would have had the right to use self-defense.
A USC student is in custody in connection with the stabbing death of a man he saw breaking into cars near Delta Tau Delta on Greek Row.
(Brian Van Der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
“If his actions are found to be reasonable based on the totality of the circumstances, he will be found innocent,” Gorin, who is not connected to the case, said.
But it is still unclear what Cerf said, and police have only released the version provided by Gallegos.
Another defense attorney, Lewis Shapiro, said Cerf’s ramming into the car alone was not sufficient justification for deadly force, even if Gallegos witnessed it.
The Greek Row stabbing case may hinge on Gallegos’ credibility and cooperation with authorities. Shapiro said prosecutors may not immediately file charges and release Gallegos from custody pending further investigation.
Shapiro said that once all the facts are in, a key question is whether the jury can sympathize with Gallegos’ point of view. If he thought Cerf had a gun, was he justified in using deadly force? He said he thinks if prosecutors file charges, the case will probably go to trial because defense attorneys may think they can convince the jury of their client’s innocence.
a mother’s pain
Cerf’s mother, Jones, said the past few days have been “difficult and devastating.”
He received information about his son’s death via a phone call from the LA County Medical Examiner’s Office, which reported that Cerf had been stabbed “multiple times.”
He felt a kind of shock.
Jones, who lives in Houston, has not spoken to law enforcement in Los Angeles about her son’s death. She has gathered details about Cerf’s death through news clips and YouTube videos.
On her TikTok page, which has nearly 2,000 followers, Cerf shared numerous videos of herself dancing — sometimes alone, sometimes with family and friends.
Xavier Cerf, 27, was the father of a 3-year-old son, Anthony.
(Courtesy of Yema Jones)
In one video, Surf filmed himself performing in front of the Houston city skyline, a smile on his face while neighbors mocked him.
Jones said her son traveled frequently and had been to California before. But on his most recent trip, he arrived in Los Angeles in late February.
He was the father of a 3-year-old boy, Anthony.
“One thing about me is I can never paint a good picture of my son. I’m just going to give you the facts. Everybody goes through life’s problems,” Jones said. “Regardless, he was still a father. He was still a brother. He was still a son. It didn’t have to go this far.”
Javier Cerf, 27, had previously traveled to California. He was stabbed to death on June 17.
(Courtesy of Yema Jones)
Public records show Cerf has had several run-ins with law enforcement in recent years. In Texas, he was convicted of misdemeanor assault with bodily injury in 2020 in Harris County.
In Los Angeles County, he was arrested by Glendora police on March 10 for a misdemeanor and charged with possession of personal identifying information with intent to defraud and loitering. They arrested him again about a week later on March 18 for alleged drug paraphernalia. He was then arrested on April 28 by the LAPD in a citizen’s arrest for an alleged assault.
After he failed to appear at a June 12 court hearing related to the Glendora arrest, court records show a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
Jones is now trying to bring her son’s body back to Texas, but she is facing a shortage of funds. She said that those who are making false statements about her son based on Monday’s events are completely ignorant.
“You can’t talk about someone you don’t know,” he said. “He was loved.”
A student who ‘loves’ U.S.C.
Earlier this year, Gallegos shared an excerpt from an essay he wrote for the USC Dornsife Prison Education Project on his LinkedIn page.
He wrote, “I will dedicate my life to starting a movement that inspires people with criminal backgrounds to seek a better life for themselves, because life locked in prison is not worth living.” The article was awarded an honorable mention.
Gallegos has also been featured in campus media for his work as a musician producing electronic dance music.
In May, he performed with Mariachi Los Troynos at the school under his stage name IDG. According to a recent report from USC Annenberg Media.
“During his childhood, Evan learned the realities of both his parents’ involvement in gang activity, which resulted in their intermittent prison terms,” the report states. “Despite growing up in an environment filled with drugs, gangs and prostitution, he focused on music and honed his skills to become a versatile (instrumentalist) and singer.”
On Tuesday, a high school friend of Gallegos’ who attended USC with him described him as someone who went out of his way to take care of his friends.
“He was always considerate of others,” the friend said. “When I heard the news about Evan, it broke my heart. At the end of the day, I know he was just trying to protect himself. A lot of people at USC love him.”
Gallegos’ family did not return calls seeking information about him. But in a brief phone conversation Tuesday, Gallegos’ mother, Violet, said: “He’s a good kid.”
