Four instructors with ties to an Iowa college were stabbed in China on Monday. Their injuries were described as not life-threatening.
The four Americans from Cornell College, which has no connection to Cornell University in New York state, were attacked about noon, while touring a park in Jilin, a city in the northeastern part of the country, according to reports.
“Horrified that multiple Cornell College faculty members were brutally stabbed in China. My team has been in communication with Cornell College & will do everything in our power to bring these Iowans home safely. Join me in praying for their health & safety,” Republican Rep. Ashley Hinton of Iowa posted on X.
Horrified that multiple Cornell College faculty members were brutally stabbed in China.
My team has been in communication with Cornell College & will do everything in our power to bring these Iowans home safely. Join me in praying for their health & safety.
— Ashley Hinson (@RepAshleyHinson) June 10, 2024
Iowa Democratic state Rep. Adam Zabner said his brother, David Zabner, was among the victims, according to CBS.
David Zabner, currently a doctoral student at Tufts University and former Cornell instructor, was stabbed in the arm and is recovering at a hospital, Adam Zabner said.
“He has not yet been released this morning but he’s doing OK,” he said, according to CBS.
The Americans were participating in a program with a local Chinese university and were accompanied by a faculty member from the Chinese college at the time of the attack, Cornell College President Jonathan Brand said in a statement, according to CBS.
Chinese police said a local resident, identified only as a 55-year-old with the surname of Cui, was arrested for the stabbing, according to Reuters.
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“Cui collided into a foreigner while walking in Beishan Park, and then stabbed the foreigner and three fellow foreigners with a knife, as well as a Chinese tourist who tried to stop him,” Jilin city police said in a statement.
The injuries suffered were “not life-threatening,” police said.
Four Americans affiliated with Iowa’s Cornell College were injured in a random stabbing attack in China, according to Chinese officials.
At least two of the victims are hospitalized in critical condition, according to a congresswoman. https://t.co/G7H0DfVW3z pic.twitter.com/1469zgGAag
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) June 11, 2024
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative Lin Jian said the incident should not disturb relations between China and the U.S., according to CBS.
“Four foreign teachers from Beihua University, Jilin City, were attacked when touring the city’s Beishan Park,” Lin said.
“All the injured were rushed to hospital and received proper medical treatment. None of them is in a critical condition. Police believed it to be an isolated incident based on preliminary assessment. Further investigation is still underway,” she said.
“Cultural and people-to-people exchange between China and the U.S. serves common interests of both sides and has been positively supported by various sectors of the two countries,” she said, adding, “We believe that the isolated incident will not disrupt normal cultural and people-to-people exchange between the two countries.”
My office and I are in touch with an impacted #Iowa family. We are working through proper channels and requesting to speak with the U.S. Embassy on appropriate matters to ensure that the victims first receive quality care for their injuries and then get out of #China in a… https://t.co/M4udbe6KS9
— Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D. (@RepMMM) June 10, 2024
“My office and I are in touch with an impacted #Iowa family. We are working through proper channels and requesting to speak with the U.S. Embassy on appropriate matters to ensure that the victims first receive quality care for their injuries and then get out of #China in a medically feasible manner,” Iowa Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks wrote in a post on X.
Cornell College is in Mount Vernon, Iowa, in the eastern part of the Hawkeye State, just east of Cedar Rapids.
