Four U.S. college instructors stabbed in China park, suspect arrested

A 55-year-old Chinese man was arrested for allegedly stabbing four U.S. educators from Cornell College while they were on an exchange with Beihua University.

A 55-year-old man was arrested after four U.S. college instructors were stabbed in a public park in China while they were participating in an academic exchange.

Police in Jilin City say they detained a local man with the surname Cui after he allegedly pulled a knife on the instructors while they were walking in Beishan Park on Monday morning. The man “collided with a foreigner, then stabbed the foreigner with a knife and three other foreigners who were with him,” police said, according to the South China Morning Post.

A Chinese tourist stepped in to intervene during the attack and was also stabbed, police added.

All of the victims were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and received treatment. The investigation into the incident is still ongoing and police did not comment on a potential motive behind the attack.

Video of the aftermath of the attack was spread on Chinese social media, showing two men and a woman lying on the ground, holding their wounds and covered in blood. The injured people appear to be awake and speaking on cell phones in the video.

The four U.S. college instructors who were stabbed had been teaching at Beihua University in Jilin City as part of an exchange program with Iowa’s Cornell College.

Cornell College president Jonathan Brand said in a statement that the instructors were attacked “in a serious incident” on Monday while at a park with a Beihua faculty member. Monday was the Dragon Boat Festival, a public holiday in China.

“We have been in contact with all four instructors and are assisting them during this time,” Brand added, noting that no students were participating in the program.