3 Chinese Restaurant Employees Stabbed By Co-Worker

TAMPA, FL -- Three restaurant employees were hospitalized Monday, March 12, after being stabbed with a butcher knife during a dispute over a missing cell phone.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, at about 2:35 p.m. Qing Zheng, 55, was working as a chef in the kitchen of the Peking Chinese Restaurant, 6936 56th St. N., in Tampa, just north of Sligh Avenue.

Restaurant employee Xiaofu Feng, 45, was working alongside Zheng when he became upset and accused Zheng of taking his cell phone. Feng reportedly took a 12-inch butcher knife and cut Zheng several times across the left side of the neck. Zheng sustained deep lacerations and the knife narrowly missed severing the artery.

Feng then attacked Qi Zheng, 29, with the butcher knife, causing multiple lacerations to the left side of her neck, shoulder and lower arm.

Shi Zheng, 48, the restaurant owner and Qi Zheng's father, attempted to protect his daughter and others from further harm. However, Feng attacked him as well, cutting him across the right side of his face.

Sheriff’s detectives say Feng then grabbed a second knife but Shi Zheng was able to disarm him and hold him until deputies arrived.

All three victims were taken to Tampa General Hospital to be treated for their lacerations.

Feng was charged with three counts of attempted second-degree murder.

Image via Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office