A 19-year-old University of Southern California student was in jail Tuesday after police accused him of murdering a man suspected of breaking into cars near campus, authorities said.
Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics pronounced the victim dead at the scene after they responded alongside officers to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon near campus shortly after 8 p.m. Monday, according to a Los Angeles Police Department statement.
Police identified the suspect as Ivan Gallegos, 19, of Los Angeles. USC spokesperson Lauren Bartlett said the teenager is enrolled as a junior studying business administration.
The location of the incident, the 700 block of West 28th Street, is a few blocks north of the University Park campus and the center of Greek Row.
“The male victim was breaking into vehicles at the location when the suspect confronted and stabbed the victim,” the LAPD said.
A County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s spokesperson said the victim’s identity was still being determined and, once that happened, would be released after family was notified of his death.
Gallegos was booked into jail at the LAPD’s 77th Street Division early on Tuesday, according to inmate records. Accused by police of murder but not formally charged, Gallegos was being held on $2 million bail, according to the records.
It was not clear Tuesday afternoon whether the student has retained counsel. The area public defender’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Police said Gallegos remained at the scene after the confrontation. Jail records indicate he was arrested about a half hour after officers arrived.
USC serves as a gateway to South Los Angeles, the vast portion of the city south of the 10 Freeway that is the historic home of West Coast jazz and is now a community that has shifted from its Black American predominance to a Latino majority thanks to the effects of 1980s and 1990s immigration.
The school has addressed crime sternly and, thanks to legislation, deploys its own sworn, on-duty police officers to patrol its community just north of the L.A. Coliseum.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau Homicide Division was investigating Monday night’s incident.
