A 39-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a Saturday stabbing at 2110 W. Ikea Way, Tempe police said Sunday.

At about 11:15 a.m. March 1, Tempe officers along with personnel from the Phoenix Fire Department responded to the stabbing call at IKEA, and police found a man inside a fire access area, according to a release.

“The man indicated to officers he had been stabbed. The victim spoke Russian, and because of the language barrier, initial information about the stabbing was unclear. He was taken to a local hospital, where he remains in critical but stable condition,” the Tempe Police Department release stated.

Police then received a phone call from an employer and learned the victim and suspect were third-party contractors who worked together, “and that the suspect had called the employer and admitted to stabbing the victim,” the release stated, adding the suspect was identified as Francisco Javier Gutierrez.

Authorities said they learned Gutierrez was possibly headed to California, and that information was provided to the Department of Public Safety. DPS found Gutierrez near Quartzsite, headed westbound, where he was taken into custody without incident.

Gutierrez was booked into jail for one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of tampering with evidence and one count interfering with judicial proceedings.

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