FARGO, N.D. — A Flushing, N.Y., man faces felony charges after allegedly stabbing a fellow chef with a 12-inch sushi knife while both were at work at a Fargo restaurant Sunday afternoon.

According to documents filed in Cass County District Court on Monday, Fargo police were called about 1:58 p.m. to a disturbance at the Osaka restaurant.

The manager, Jian Zhou, told officers that two of his sushi chefs, Lin Zhong and Long Gao, got into an argument and he had to separate the two.

Zhong complained the previous day to Zhou about another employee touching him, Zhou told police, but he didn’t know what led to Sunday’s argument.

Zhong didn’t like people touching him, Zhou said, but he didn’t think Gao overheard him speaking to the employee the previous day about not touching Zhong.

Through an interpreter, Gao told police he had been working with Zhong, a new employee who had only been there for about three days.

The two were working in a small area, about 6 feet by 10 feet, when Gao complimented Zhong on some sushi he had made.

Zhong either misheard him or misinterpreted the compliment, Gao said, and turned to confront him, speaking to him angrily.

Gao pushed him back to separate himself from Zhong, and started to back away, Gao told police.

Gao said that was when Zhong, who still had the 12-inch, wooden-handled fillet or sushi knife he’d been working with in his hand, went to stab at him.

Gao said he stepped back and turned, probably preventing Zhong from stabbing him deeply in the stomach. He was slashed in the hip instead, Gao said.

When police interviewed Zhong, also through an interpreter, he told police Gao had punched him in the kidney area, and he had pushed him off and stabbed Gao.

Zhong told police he only wanted Gao to back away, but felt that if he had kept allowing himself to be touched, as had happened the previous day, he would be basically allowing people to touch him all the time.

He didn’t intend to stab Gao, Zhong told police.

Gao was taken to Essentia Health by ambulance, and Zhong was arrested.

Zhong, 31, was charged Monday in Cass County Court with one count of aggravated assault, a Class C felony. His bail was set at $20,000.

His next court appearance is expected to be May 1.