Newark Airport Stabbing – A man faces assault charges after he attacked a woman with a knife at Newark Airport on Sunday evening, authorities said.
Officers with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey witnessed the assault, which took place around 5 p.m. at the Terminal A departures level of the airport, a spokesperson said.
The victim, Melissa Mauldin, 36, of Albemarle was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries to the right side of her face, police said. She needed 14 stitches, and her cheekbone and nose were also fractured.
“I felt the force from his fist, and the blade was so short,” Mauldin said. “I’ve never not felt secure. And I was telling my fiancé, Max, last night, I feel like all that security is stripped from me and I didn’t even do anything to deserve it,” Mauldin said.
The suspect – later identified as Jin Xiong, 54 – is currently in custody at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark. He has been charged with aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a weapon.
Jin has been in and out of prison since 2009 for assault, police said. “Why are you that evil? He stabbed multiple people before,” Mauldin said.
No additional information was immediately available.