MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (WHO) — Mount Vernon learned of the stabbing of four Cornell College instructors on an exchange tour in China. Some saw it on social media Monday night, while others learned of it on all the national news Tuesday morning.
According to the Associated Press, Chinese police detained a suspect in connection to the stabbing. A 55-year-old man identified as Cui was walking in a park when he bumped into a foreigner. Cui then stabbed the foreigner, now known as one of the Cornell instructors, and the three other instructors he was with, as well as a Chinese person who tried to intervene.
In the shops near Cornell College people were talking about the incident.
“It was shocking to see that instructors from our little Cornell had been attacked in China,” said Tasha Erickson, who runs a clothing boutique and restores antique furniture in her shop in downtown Mount Vernon. “I kind of had to double check to make sure it was our Cornell (not the one in Ithica, New York) but I saw it on social media and then tried to find more information as best I could, definitely interested to see if I knew any names or if there were anybody I was familiar with, but there was kind of a lack of information.”
Jacobo Flores was busy cutting hair in his shop downtown.
“My first reaction was, I mean it’s unfortunate, and it sucks that you know they had to go through that unexpectedly, so just unfortunate,” said Flores. “I’m not aware of who it is, but I mean it’s crazy to know that I might know one of them and for them to go through something like that.”
Cody Watts was hard at work in his tattoo business, when he learned of the incident this afternoon.
“In a small community here where like I think the most interesting thing honestly would be like someone getting mugged, or like a car getting pulled over. You don’t hear about professors getting stabbed,” said Watts. “Having four professors being attacked, literally across the pond itself would just be insane.”
Tim Morrissey heard about the stabbings when he came to work at a downtown tobacco store.
“It was kind of a shock, it’s just kind of a crazy thing that people stab other people for no reason at all,” said Morrissey.
“There hasn’t been a lot of information and I suppose that’s just protecting them,” said Erickson. “Cornell is very caring of their employees so I think they’re probably just watching out for them.”