Suspect held in stabbing at Art Basel in Florida

Siyuan Zhao, 24, charged after altercation with another patron at fair in Miami Beach

A woman has been charged in the stabbing of another woman at Art Basel Miami Beach in Florida.

The suspect, Siyuan Zhao, 24 of New York City, cut the victim's neck and shoulder with an X-Acto blade during a fight on the evening of Dec 4, Miami Beach Detective Kathleen Prieto told the Miami Herald.

The victim, who was not identified, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

According to Miami-Dade inmate records, Zhao was booked just after midnight on charges of attempted felony murder/causing injury. She was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on $25,000 bond and had to surrender her passport, according to the miamidade.gov website.

In an arrest report, officers stated that Zhao told them she "had to kill [the victim] and two more. I had to watch her bleed!" Zhao had apparently followed the victim around the convention center, bumping into her numerous times prior to the stabbing. The arrest report said that the victim did not know Zhao, and that Zhao admitted that her crime was meant "to clean the victim".

The weapon was identified in the arrest report as an X-Acto knife.

Art Basel Miami Beach spokeswoman Sara Fitzmaurice said in an email to The Associated Press: "The attack was an isolated incident that was immediately secured. Our thoughts are with the victim."

Art Basel Miami Beach is the extension of the annual contemporary art fair in Basel, Switzerland, and is attended by thousands.

Both women were patrons of the art show, not exhibitors.

The stabbing occurred near an art installation called The Swamp of Sagittarius, the Miami Herald reported.

Fisher said she heard a scuffle and saw a woman being wheeled out by paramedics around 5:30 pm.

"A guy walked up to me and said, 'I thought I saw a performance, and I thought it was fake blood, but it was real blood,' " the Herald reported.

Police and Art Basel officials announced that after the Nov 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, they had increased security near the convention center.

Two Coconut Grove women drinking champagne walked up to the police tape, the Herald reported.

"It's a very strange place for something like this to happen," said Amanda DeSeta.

"It makes me very nervous," said Sune Smith.

Gregg Hill, a sculptor from New York, said he saw a woman on a gurney but never suspected she was the victim of violence.

"I thought a piece of art fell on her," he said. "I never would have thought there would be a stabbing at Art Basel."

(China Daily USA 12/07/2015 page3)