A knife-wielding Chinese man stabbed two in-laws of the U.S. Olympic men's volleyball team coach on Saturday — killing one of them — before committing suicide.

The Americans and their tour guide were visiting the ancient Drum Tower in central Beijing when they were attacked by a man who then committed suicide. (Alexander F. Yuan/Associated Press)

Todd and Barbara Bachman of Lakeville, Minn., were stabbed. They are the parents of 2004 volleyball Olympian Elisabeth (Wiz) Bachman McCutcheon and in-laws of Hugh McCutcheon, who is coaching the American men's team in Beijing.

The U.S. Olympic Committee confirmed Todd Bachman died from knife wounds and that Barbara Bachman suffered life-threatening injuries.

She and their Chinese tour guide, who was also injured in the attack at the 13th-century Drum Tower, were being treated in a Beijing hospital.

Elisabeth Bachman was with them at the time of the attack, but uninjured.

The attacker, identified as Tang Yongming, 47, then committed suicide after throwing himself from the second storey of the tower. There was no indication that he knew his victims or had any connection to the Games.

The U.S. women's indoor volleyball team heard about the killing of their former teammate's father before they took on Japan in a match Saturday. After their victory, player Logan Tom was obviously shaken.

"God, we all love Wiz," she said. "It's hard to put it in words. That's not something that's supposed to happen."

Tom then turned away, crying.

"It's just tragic," said U.S. woman's basketball coach Anne Donovan.

"I don't know if there's another word for it. We said a prayer for them in the locker room. I get goosebumps talking about it. It's something obviously that just changes the events right now for the Olympic Games."

China's Foreign Ministry said it had no immediate comment on the attack. It was not mentioned in the main evening news bulletin on state-controlled television, though it was reported by the Xinhua and other Chinese-language media.

Tang's name was run through computers containing more than 178,000 individuals, including 12,000 suspected terrorists. The search came up blank.

An Interpol official said Tang had apparently recently divorced and had not been seen by relatives for two months.

U.S. Ambassador Clark Randt visited the victims in hospital, and the embassy issued a statement later that said the attack "appears to be a senseless act of violence."

"We don't believe this was targeted at American citizens, and we don't believe this has anything to do with the Olympics," embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson said.