Ryan Zweng was on his way to an study group meeting at a cafe next to the Drum Tower but noticed a much larger than usual crowd milling about the square outside the north gate, most of them press types.

He soon learned that Todd Bachman, 62, wife Barbara, also 62, and their Chinese tower guide had been attacked on the tower's second story by a Chinese national wielding a knife. The assailant, Tang Yongming, 47, killed Todd Bachman, critically injured Barbara and also injured the guide before leaping to his death 130 feet below.

Zweng, like the Bachmans, looks painfully American. A 23-year-old San Franciscan freshly graduated from NYU, he was asked if he feared for his safety during his month-long stay here:

"I can't say I feel targeted. But it is in your consciousness."

It didn't seem to bother Orange County, Calif. residents Mark and Lynn Ledford, a fortysomething couple who couldn't look more made-for-TV American: tanned, blond and slim, they learned of the killing from a pair of reporters lunching in the same restaurant a few blocks away.

The Ledfords soon meandered over to the Tower to have a look -- where enterprising journalists swarmed their telegenic selves. 

UPDATE: Barbara Bachman suffered multiple lacerations and stab wounds in the attack and underwent 8 hours of surgery, according to a statement from the USOC released Sunday morning.  She is in critical but stable condition at a Beijing hospital. Family members, including her daughter Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon and son-in-law Hugh McCutcheon, are with her.

The U.S. volleyball team will open play against Venezuela later today, as scheduled. Hugh McCutcheon will not be on the bench. Assistant coach Ron Larsen will serve as interim head coach.