The mother of a man who was stabbed near USC’s Greek Row is asking for justice and wants the district attorney to rethink not filing charges.
Xavier Jerrod Cerf was stabbed and killed on Monday when, according to investigators, some students tried to stop him from stealing a car behind a fraternity house.
Investigators say Cerf told the man confronting him that he had a gun and reached for his waistband. That’s when USC student Ivan Gallegos grabbed his hand and stabbed him in the chest.
DA George Gascón says investigators found Gallegos was genuinely scared for his life and was trying to protect himself and others.
Later, detectives found out Cerf did not have a gun.
Cerf’s mother, Yema Jones, is in Houston, far from where the incident happened.
She is focused on bringing her son’s body back to Texas, where he grew up.
“I haven’t had time to grieve because my mind is on what I need to do to get my son here,” Jones said. “Away from the people who hurt him.”
Jones says her son is the father of a three-year-old boy.
The family now wears purple bracelets with the letters LLX for long live Xavier.
Police said Cerf was homeless, but his mother says that’s not true.
“I want them to say his name. His name is Xavier Jerrod Cerf. He wasn’t a homeless man. He had a home.”
Jones wants the case to be reopened. She questions the self-defense finding, pointing out it was the students who first approached Cerf.
“What were you defending? …. If somebody is coming after you, then you defend yourself from that person harming you. Not you coming to that person and harming them.”
Jones says her 27-year-old son had recently finished receiving mental health treatment.
“I’m going to fight for justice for what’s mine,” she said. “So he can properly rest. Because he didn’t deserve that.”