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Janitor Identified In Garden Grove Tea Shop Fatal Stabbing

GARDEN GROVE (CBSLA.com) — A 24-year-old man who was fatally stabbed at a local tea shop was identified on Saturday.

According to the Garden Grove Police Department, Cesar Ramirez-Rafael regularly worked at the Volcano Tea House as a janitor.

Officers were sent regarding suspicious circumstances at 11:01 a.m. Friday to the 10100 block of Garden Grove Boulevard.

A female employee had shown up to work and saw a man she didn't recognize — later identified as 20-year-old Robert Gabriel Rodgers — indicating for her to be quiet and come inside.

garden grove suspect
(credit: Garden Grove Police Department)

Police said she thought quickly and locked the front door, leaving the man trapped inside the business and called 911.

Once on scene, officers found Ramirez-Rafael fatally stabbed in the back of the shop near a cooler.

It remains unclear if the two men knew each other before the attack as the motive is under investigation.

Rodgers was taken into custody on suspicion of murder and was later booked at the Orange County Jail.

(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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