A USC student whom police accused of fatally stabbing a man who had broken into a car on Greek Row will not be charged in the killing, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Ivan Gallegos, 19, was being held on bail of $2 million after Los Angeles police say he and two others confronted Xavier Cerf, 27, as he was breaking into a car, and Gallegos pulled out a knife and fatally stabbed him.
“After careful consideration and a thorough review of all available evidence, we have decided not to pursue charges against … Gallegos. We believe that Mr. Gallegos’s actions were driven by a genuine fear for his life and the lives of others,” Dist. Atty. George Gascon said in a statement. “Our heart goes out to the deceased’s family, friends and everyone impacted by this tragic incident.”
The confrontation occurred Monday just after 8 p.m. in the 700 block of West 28th Street, police said. Gallegos remained at the scene after the stabbing, cooperated with investigators and was later booked, according to police. The two other men who were with him were questioned and released.
Police said they found Cerf in a nearby alley suffering from stab wounds and when paramedics arrived he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Dmitry Gorin, an L.A. defense attorney and former prosecutor, said Thursday that in order for the district attorney not to bring charges, they would have to find the “use of deadly force was reasonable based on all the facts and circumstances in the police reports.”
The evidence “demonstrated that the accused was acting in self-defense, and therefore, the homicide is legally justified,” he added.
In a GoFundMe campaign created to support Gallegos, his mother Violet claims that her son was acting in self-defense when he stabbed Cerf. Gallegos found himself in that situation “due to the lack of safety measures around his campus,” according to the post.
Meanwhile, Cerf’s mother, Yema Jones, said she is reeling from his death and is searching for answers. She said he has been struggling mentally in recent years after the death of family members and, at the time of his death, had hoped to return to Houston to be with her. While Cerf does have a criminal record, Jones said he was a peaceful person.
“They’re making my son out to be a person that he’s not,” Jones said. “He was very vibrant. He loved to dance. He wasn’t a violent kid coming up.”
Jones said the past few days have been “hard and devastating.”
She was notified of her son’s death through a phone call from the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s Office, who told her Cerf had been stabbed “several times.”
On his TikTok page, which had accumulated nearly 2,000 followers, Cerf shared multiple videos of himself dancing — sometimes by himself, sometimes with family and friends.
Her son traveled frequently, Jones said, and visited California in the past. But on his latest trip, he arrived in Los Angeles at the end of February.
He was father to a 3-year-old boy, Anthony.
“One thing about me is, 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. “Regardless, he was still a father. He was still a brother. He was still a son. It didn’t have to go that far.”
On Tuesday, one of Gallegos’ high school friends going to school with him at USC described him as someone who went out of his way to take care of his friends.
“He was always looking out for others,” said the friend. “I was heartbroken when I heard the news about Ivan. At the end of the day, I know he was just trying to defend himself. He is loved by many at USC.”
Gallegos’ family did not return calls seeking information about him. But in a brief phone conversation on Tuesday, Gallegos’ mother said: “He’s a good kid.”
Earlier this year, Gallegos took to his LinkedIn page to share an excerpt of an essay he wrote for the USC Dornsife Prison Education Project.
“I will dedicate my life to start a movement to inspire people struggling with criminality to seek a better life for themselves because a life living locked up, is not a life worth living for,” he wrote. The piece 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 Troyanos at the school under his stage name IDG, according to a recent report from USC Annenberg Media.
“Throughout his childhood, Ivan navigated the realities of both his parents’ involvement in gang activities, leading to their intermittent incarceration,” the report said. “Despite growing up in an environment saturated with drugs, gangs and prostitution, he focused on music and sharpened his skills to become a multifaceted [instrumentalist] and vocalist.”