Prosecutor: Fired cook attacked boss with cleaver

Despite charges he stabbed his boss and a fellow employee Monday at the Elk Grove Village restaurant where they worked, a Chicago man was described as quiet and nonviolent by his son.

“He's actually a good guy,” said Ken Mei, referring to his father, Xiubin Mei, who authorities say used a 12-inch meat cleaver to attack a 51-year-old female co-worker and the 43-year-old owner of the China Bowl restaurant. Ken Mei says his father has worked at the restaurant as a cook for six or seven years.

Cook County Judge Kay Hanlon set Xiubin Mei's bail at $100,000 following a brief hearing Tuesday afternoon, which Ken Mei interpreted after prosecutors and defense attorneys were unable to locate a Cantonese interpreter.

Not having an official interpreter concerned Xiubin Mei's attorney, Cook County Assistant Public Defender Salvatore Spaccaferro.

“My concern is that I'm able to communicate with my client and inform him of what he's charged with,” Spaccaferro said.

The hearing proceeded after Hanlon granted the defense's request that Ken Mei translate for his 60-year-old father, who Spaccaferro described as a “legal resident alien.”

Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Bill Cotter suggested that tension between the co-workers began simmering Monday morning when the female co-worker picked Xiubin Mei up from his home in the 3000 block of S. Aberdeen. She commented about how haggard he appeared and “asked if he ‘had been gambling all night,'” Cotter said.

When they arrived at the restaurant, at 124 Turner Ave., the owner confronted Xiubin Mei about his appearance and gambling and fired him, Cotter said. An argument ensued, which the woman tried to break up. At that point, said Cotter, Xiubin Mei swung the meat cleaver at the woman, causing a 7” laceration that required 13 staples. Xiubin Mei struck the owner with the knife cutting his head and hand, Cotter said, adding that another person witnessed the attack.

Xiubin Mei, who was also charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, was holding the knife when police arrived, Cotter said.

If convicted of attempted murder, Xiubin Mei could face between six and 30 years in prison. If convicted of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, he could face three to seven years in prison.

He next appears in court on Sept. 8.