Man Charged in Stabbing Death at Sylmar Party

A 20-year-old man was charged Tuesday with the murder of a Sun Valley man who was fatally stabbed at a birthday party in Sylmar.

David Gage Silva of Sylmar was ordered to remain jailed on $1 million bail pending arraignment Nov. 14 in San Fernando Superior Court.

Silva is charged with the slaying of 19-year-old Anthony Hernandez, who was stabbed about 1:30 a.m. Sunday at the end of a birthday party held in the 13000 block of Sayre Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The party was winding down when an argument and a fight broke out in the backyard, police said.

Hernandez -- the friend of an invited guest -- died a short time later at a local hospital.

Silva, who had been invited to the party, was arrested later that afternoon by Los Angeles police.

"This latest party incident occurred in spite of deploying three police units around the Northeast Valley to monitor parties on this weekend before Halloween," Los Angeles police Lt. Paul Vernon said. "But the police patrols wouldn't have made a difference regardless for this incident as there had been no complaints about this party."

The stabbing took place within the district of Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, whose jurisdiction sees 2,100 parties a year, according to the Daily News.

In response to the weekend stabbing, a motion by the councilman to divert $46,000 toward creating a "party patrol" won approval from his peers, the Daily News reports.

The funds would go toward boosting police responses to party complaints as well as allowing officers to work with party hosts to control the size of such gatherings, the publication reports.