Questions abound in stabbing

The victim is in fair condition. Because of a language barrier with the Chinese people involved, police await answers today.

By LETITIA STEIN
Published July 5, 2007

TAMPA - Zheng Quing Sun stumbled out of the Oriental Bakery.

He had been stabbed three times in the chest with a kitchen knife.

His forearms were marked with defensive wounds.

This is the story of what happened Wednesday afternoon, as it came to police in halting English:

Qiu Lan Ling, 35, the wife of the victim's boss, told police that she did it.

She said she was baking a cake Wednesday afternoon and fell against the 42-year-old employee by accident. Her husband is believed to own a nearby fast-food Chinese restaurant where the victim works.

Police weren't buying this explanation for the stabbing.

"Three times in the chest?" said Tampa police Lt. Ronald McMullen, the supervisor on the scene, calling the explanation ridiculous.

The victim told another story. He said the husband stabbed him. The husband, whose name was not released, fled the bakery, which is tucked in a corner of a shopping plaza at 8502 N. Armenia Ave.

McMullen said the victim staggered outside at some point, and his employers dragged him back in. They were cleaning the scene when police arrived, he said.

After sharing that much, the people involved stopped speaking English, McMullen said. Police couldn't get around the language barrier. The victim and his bosses spoke Mandarin Chinese. Others at the plaza tried to translate, but they spoke Cantonese Chinese.

"We have no idea what started it, " McMullen said. "We have no idea why it went so far."

Neither did neighbors at the shopping plaza, a marketplace with an international flair, including two Chinese eateries and an Asian grocery store.

Peter Chen, 40, owner of the China Yuan restaurant, recognized the victim as an employee at the Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant next door. He called 911.

"We tried to help him out, " Chen said. "We tried to cover him up, but he didn't want help."

The victim was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was in fair condition Wednesday afternoon, police reported.

Police plan to work through translators to interview the victim and his bosses today. They took the wife into custody Wednesday, but released her. No one was arrested.

They believe the wife owns the bakery, and her husband owns the Chinese fast-food restaurant.

Shortly after the stabbing at 1:30 p.m., the bakery was open, selling Chinese buns stuffed with pork and pastries thick with icing. A woman working the register responded to a reporter's questions with "No, no, no."

Letitia Stein can be reached at lstein@sptimes.com or 813 226-3400.

[Last modified July 5, 2007, 00:10:45]