Police in the United Arab Emirates have arrested a woman they say is behind the stabbing death Monday of an American teacher who formerly taught in Colorado.
The suspect is connected to a separate plot to bomb another American’s house.
Interior Minister Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also deputy prime minister, said the attacker targeted her victims based on their nationality alone in an attempt to create chaos and terrorize the country. He called the stabbing of Ibolya Ryan a crime that is “alien to our secure country.”
“The victim of this brutal crime was a schoolteacher who was committed to building strong future generations,” he said.
Police say Ryan, 47, was stabbed to death by a butcher-knife-wielding attacker shrouded in the full black veil commonly worn by women throughout the Gulf Arab region. Emirati authorities identified the victim by the initials I.R. and said she was 47 years old.
The director of the company that placed Ryan in the Abu Dhabi teaching job, Ben Glickman, told The Associated Press she started teaching in the country in August or September and hoped to continue working there.
Ryan worked at Palmer Elementary School in Denver from 1997 to 2003, Denver Public Schools spokesman Doug Schepman said Thursday. Colorado records show Ryan had a license to teach in Colorado that was issued in December 2012 and that she was trained to work with special education students with moderate needs.
Ildiko Gubanyi, a friend of Ryan in Denver, said “she had a simple, charming and sweet personality, made friends easily and was helpful to everyone.”
Gubanyi said she had known Ryan since moving from Hungary to the U.S. 14 years ago.
