Det. Kathleen Prieto, a spokeswoman with Miami Beach police said the injuries aren’t life-threatening and added that the victim was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital. The assailant was arrested at the scene, The Miami Herald reports.
Neither woman was displaying art at the show, both were patrons. However, several onlookers thought the stabbing was a performance art presentation, while others believed the police tape blocking off an area inside the convention center was part of an installation.
Miami artist Naomi Fisher, whose installation was near the scene of the attack, said she heard a scuffle and later saw a woman being wheeled away by paramedics, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
“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,” Fisher said, per the Miami Herald.
One sculptor visiting from New York said he saw the victim being wheeled out but didn’t suspect she was the victim of a violent crime.
“I thought a piece of art fell on her,” said the sculptor, Gregg Hill. “I never would have thought there would be a stabbing at Art Basel…People didn’t really know what had happened. It was calm and everyone was milling around and talking.”
Art show spokeswoman Sara Fitzmaurice said in a statement that “the attack was an isolated incident that was immediately secured.”
She noted that the suspect was apprehended by police who arrived at the scene within seconds of the attack.
The Guardian reports that Siyuan Zhao, of New York, was arrested after allegedly stabbing the victim in the neck and arms with an X-Acto knife during the fight at the Art Basel event, which is the biggest art fair in the U.S.
The arrest report states that while Zhao was being patted down, she allegedly said “I had to kill her and two more.” It’s also alleged that she said “I had to watch her bleed!”
Raw Story reports that the victim was walking through an exhibit when she noticed another woman stalking her. She confronted the woman, who allegedly grabbed the knife and began stabbing her.
Zhao is currently detained at Turner Guilford Knight correctional center, Prieto told the Miami Herald.
Earlier this week, police and Art Basel officials announced that security had been beefed up in and around the convention center, due to the terrorist attacks in Paris, the Miami Herald reports.
