Suspect arrested in stabbing of 4 instructors from Iowa college in China, police say

Hong Kong CNN —

A suspect has been arrested in the stabbing of four US college instructors in a public park in the northeastern Chinese city of Jilin, police said Tuesday.

Authorities identified the suspect by his last name, Cui, a 55-year-old man from the city’s Longtan district. Police said he “collided with a foreigner while walking” in Beishan Park, a popular green space in Jilin city center.

The suspect then allegedly stabbed the instructors, as well as a Chinese tourist who stepped forward and tried to stop him during the incident, police said in a statement.

Police said they received the call around 11:49 a.m. local time Tuesday, after which they dispatched police to the scene and transported the injured to hospital for treatment.

“At present, the injured have all received proper medical treatment and are not in danger of life,” police said earlier, adding the case was being investigated.

The educators from Cornell College, a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa, were wounded “in a serious incident” on Monday, while participating in a partnership program with Beihua University in the city of Jilin, in northeastern China, according to the college.

“We have been in contact with all four instructors and are assisting them during this time,” Cornell College President Jonathan Brand said in a statement, adding no students took part in the program.

Footage purportedly showing the aftermath of the daylight attack, which emerged on Chinese social media on Monday but was swiftly censored, showed two men and a woman lying on the ground covered in large blood stains, surrounded by onlookers.

They appeared conscious and were talking on their cell phones, the video showed.

CNN geolocated the video of the