
Police in northeastern China on June 11 arrested a suspect in connection to last Monday’s knife attack on four people, including three American college instructors, in a park in Jilin.
According to police, the 55-year-old man, identified only by his surname Cui, “collided with a foreigner” in Beishan Park in Jilin’s city center. Cui then stabbed the three Americans and a Chinese tourist who attempted to intervene in the attack.
The attack occurred at about 11:49 a.m. on Monday, June 10. Officers responded to the scene and took the victims to a nearby hospital. All three Americans and the Chinese tourist received “proper medical treatment” and were “not in danger,” the police said.
The three instructors, who are from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, were in Jilin participating in a partnership program with Beijua University.
Cornell College President Jonathan Brand confirmed that college officials had been in contact with the instructors who were wounded “in a serious incident” in Jilin.
Chinese social media platforms swiftly censored video footage allegedly of the aftermath of the attack.
The footage showed a woman and two men covered in blood and lying on the ground surrounded by bystanders. The injured people were conscious and talking on their cell phones.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed on June 11 that three “foreign teachers” from the university had been attacked and that none suffered from life-threatening injuries.
Iowa Democrat state Rep. Adam Zabner revealed that his brother David was one of the victims.
Zabner said last Monday that David, who was on his second stint in China with Cornell College, was stabbed in the arm. He said his brother was “doing well” and was recovering in the hospital.
Nicholas Burns, the US Ambassador to China, said in a post on X that he was “angered and deeply troubled” by last Monday’s attack and that a consular officer had visited the Americans in the hospital.