Behind the Badge
Garden Grove Police on Friday afternoon said a man has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of a male member of a cleaning crew inside the Volcano Tea House, 10130 Garden Grove Blvd.
Robert Gabriel Rodgers, 20, whose last known address is in Anaheim, is being held on suspicion of homicide, Lt. Ben Stauffer said.
The victim was identified late Friday as Ceaser Ramirez-Rafael, 24, of Garden Grove.
At 11:01 a.m. Friday, officers were sent to the Volcano Tea House regarding “suspicious circumstances,” Stauffer said. A female employee showed up at the business, which had yet to open for the day, but through the front window she saw a man she didn’t recognize inside waving at her and motioning at her to be quiet, Stauffer said.
Not recognizing the man, she instead stepped back and tried to lock the front door to the business with Rodgers inside. When she had difficulty locking the door, a man from the business next door came over and helped her get the door locked.
The employee then called police.
When officers arrived, they entered the business and found the dead man in the back of the tea house near a cooler.
It was unclear if anything had been stolen from the tea house, Stauffer said.
Rodgers has been booked at Orange County Jail in Santa Ana.
The investigation is ongoing.
