US college instructor recounts surviving stabbing in China to Iowa public radio

Jilin, China CNN —

An American college instructor has recounted the horror of surviving a stabbing attack in China, offering the first personal account of an incident that has been given limited media coverage within the country.

David Zabner is one of four Cornell College instructors attacked Monday while visiting a busy public park in the northeast Chinese city of Jilin, where they were teaching on a partnership program with a local university.

Police in Jilin said they “quickly arrived at the scene” and “swiftly apprehended” a 55-year-old man. The suspect, identified by his surname Cui, “collided with a foreigner while walking,” then stabbed the victim, according to a police statement. Three other foreigners and a Chinese person who attempted to intervene were also stabbed by the suspect, police said.

The statement did not address the suspect’s motive for the attack and said the investigation was ongoing. China’s Foreign Ministry said police believe the stabbing was an “isolated incident,” based on preliminary assessment.

“Police told us that he was unemployed and down on his luck, and that somebody in our group bumped into the man,” Zabner told Iowa Public Radio News from his hospital room. “And he decided to respond in the way he responded.”

Cornell College instructor David Zabner survived the stabbing attack in Jilin, China.

Zabner said he first realized something was wrong when he heard a scream while descending a hill in Beishan Park, a popular green space in Jilin city center.

“I turned around to find a man brandishing a knife at me. I didn’t immediately realize what was happening. I thought my coworkers had been pushed, and he, for some reason was trying to push me,” Zabner said.

“And then I looked down