Mother of man killed in Greek Row riot at USC speaks out – NBC Los Angeles

The mother of the man killed in USC’s Greek Row on Monday night said she still has many unanswered questions after the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office decided not to file charges against the USC student who stabbed her son to death.

Yema Jones, the mother of Xavier Cerf, who died Monday night in the 700 block of West 28th Street, east of University Avenue, after being found with stab wounds outside a fraternity house, said she was angry, confused and devastated after the district attorney’s office decided not to file charges against Ivan Gallegos.

“You took a life. You took my son. You took my baby, my baby,” Jones said.

While police described Cerf, 27, as a homeless man who was breaking into cars when 19-year-old Gallegos approached him, Jones said the students’ actions were unjustified.

“You all mean to tell me you couldn’t call campus security or detain him without hurting him?” Jones said. “It’s all three of you against one. One had a pole and one had a knife. I have a feeling you all planned to do what you did.”

Jones, who lives in Texas, said her murdered son moved to Los Angeles in February.

Cerf spent time in a San Pedro hospital receiving psychiatric treatment and was released the day he was killed, his mother said.

While Jones doesn’t believe her son was homeless, she says even if he was breaking into cars, it shouldn’t have resulted in his death.

“There are three of them. All of them could have restrained him,” Jones said. “Not just once, but multiple times – he was harmless. All of them found nothing on him, absolutely nothing, except his medication. And that is justice.”

Police said Cerf had locked himself in a car. When Gallegos and two others asked him to get out, Cerf said the car was calling him, police said.

When Cerf finally got out of the vehicle, police said he claimed he had a gun and reached for his hip, whereupon Gallegos stabbed him.

“We believe Mr. Gallegos’ actions were driven by genuine fear for his life and the lives of others,” prosecutors said. “Our condolences go out to the deceased’s family, his friends and all those affected by this tragic incident.”