NEW YORK -- (Xinhua) -- A suspect in an unprovoked attack reportedly said she was motivated by racism toward race when she repeatedly stabbed a victim, an Asian-American student at Indiana University, last week on a city bus, CNN reported. )) on Tuesday, citing court documents and a student group.

Court records showed that Billie Davis, 56, a white woman, was charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery and battery with a deadly weapon in the January 11 attack in Bloomington, Indiana, in what appears to be the latest example of escalating discrimination against Asians in the United States .

Davis and the victim were riding the bus separately, and when the victim tried to get off, Davis got up from her nearby seat and reportedly stabbed the victim in the head with a folding knife, leaving penetrating wounds, according to an affidavit as to the probable cause.

The report said city and university officials condemned the attack, which comes amid an escalating wave of reported harassment and assaults against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first quarter of 2021 alone, reported hate crimes against Asians in 16 of the country's largest cities and counties rose 164 percent from a year earlier, according to a study by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino.