“She was a very understanding woman,” and  “I really couldn’t imagine she would be related to something like this.” So said an associate of Siyuan Zhao, the suspect in Friday’s shocking Art Basel in Miami Beach stabbing, to Page Six.

A Chinese national, Zhao reportedly rents an apartment on the Upper East Side and graduated earlier this year from a five-year architecture program at the University of Oregon. According to Page Six’s source, she was a popular student there, and planned to pursue graduate studies in New York.

The stabbing suspect, who has been identified as 24-year-old Siyuan Zhao, is arrested at Art Basel in Miami Beach.
Photo: Rudy Perez, courtesy the Miami Herald.

Despite her petite stature, Zhao allegedly showed surprising ferocity after being confronted by the victim, who accused her of following her around the fair and purposely bumping into her. Just five-foot-four and 110 pounds according to Page Six, Zhao is accused in the police report of slashing the victim with an X-Acto knife, first on the right side of the neck, and then on the left shoulder.

Gruesome images show the victim, who Page Six identifies as Shin Seo Young, drenched in blood and being carted out of the convention center on a stretcher. Fortunately, she was reportedly treated at the Jackson Memorial Hospital, and the injuries were non-life-threatening.

The stabbing suspect, who has been identified as 24-year-old Siyuan Zhao, is arrested at Art Basel in Miami Beach.
Photo: Rudy Perez, courtesy the Miami Herald.

Witnesses to the frightening scene found it hard to comprehend, with the barbaric act being mistaken by fair-goers as a performance piece—albeit a disturbed one. Art Basel responded quickly to the unsettling incident with an official statement.

The police reports note that Zhao told officers “I had to kill her and two more!” and “I had to watch her bleed!” as she was being arrested. Zhao has reportedly been charged with attempted murder, and is being held on $25,000 bail.