A “white supremacist gang member” accused in a fatal stabbing outside a Laguna Niguel nightclub last week has been charged with murder and was expected to be arraigned Monday, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, which also disclosed that the suspect had a prior manslaughter conviction.
Craig Matthew Tanber, 37, of Los Alamitos, was described as a “third-striker, white supremacist gang member parolee,” in the DA’s office news release announcing his arraignment and the charges against him.
Tanber allegedly stabbed 22-year-old Shayan Mazroei in the upper torso multiple times and then fled the scene after the two got into an argument outside Patsy’s Irish Pub on Sept. 8.
Witnesses called 911 and Mazroei was taken to Mission Hospital, where he later died as a result of his injuries.
Mazroei, a student at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, was described by friends who gathered for his vigil as a very social person who liked to connect with people.
Tanber was arrested Friday at a motel in Westminster and was said to be “a documented gang member with a significant criminal history,” by investigators.
Charges filed against Tanber Monday revealed some of his past run-ins with the law, including a conviction for voluntary manslaughter.
Tanber was charged with one felony count of murder with sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a knife and prior strike convictions for voluntary manslaughter, dissuading a witness by force, street terrorism, and assault with a deadly weapon in 2007, residential burglary in 2001, and serving a prison term for one year or more and not remaining free for more than five years, according to the DA’s Office.
Tanber was on parole after serving a previous 13-year sentence from the voluntary manslaughter conviction at the time of the fatal stabbing, the news release stated.
If convicted, Tanber faces a maximum sentence of 76 years to life in state prison, according to the DA’s Office.
He was being held on $1 million bail.