MOORPARK : 2 Men Held Over Stabbing at Market

Two Thousand Oaks men who were arrested in connection with the stabbing of a Moorpark merchant will be arraigned today in Ventura County Municipal Court, sheriff’s deputies said.

Antonio Gonzalez, 38, and Jose Oliveras, 23, were arrested Sunday at a restaurant one block from a High Street grocery and liquor store where the manager had been stabbed an hour earlier.

Moorpark resident Abdulrahman Barakat, 29, whose family has owned Barakat’s Market for 23 years, was stabbed in the heart and abdomen at 5:20 p.m. after he argued with a man who wanted to cash a check at the store, Detective Ed Wyande said.

Barakat was taken to Los Robles Regional Medical Center, where he underwent surgery. He was in serious condition Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Two customers at the store who had witnessed the stabbing later helped police find the two men, Wyande said.

The customers saw a man arguing with Barakat, who was unloading a truck outside the store, said Mohammed Sabah, 23, who was working inside the store at the time of the stabbing. The customers saw the man stab Barakat, then speed away in a car with another man. The customers returned to the store to report the stabbing, Sabah said.

Sabah said the man argued with Barakat because the store refused to cash an income tax refund check made out to the man and his wife without the wife’s signature.

After the two customers had been questioned by deputies about the stabbing, they walked west on High Street and spotted the two men’s car in a restaurant parking lot, Wyande said. The witnesses informed another downtown merchant, who called Barakat’s Market. Employees at Barakat’s telephoned police, Sabah said.

Gonzales and Oliveras were being held at Ventura County Jail, Wyande said. Bail for each man was set at $250,000, he said.