Police have confirmed that a man who was stabbed to death in downtown Beijing on Wednesday afternoon was from the United States.

The 62-year-old victim, named Howard Thomas Mills, was killed at 3:20 p.m. at the entrance to Qudeng Alley in Xicheng district, according to a written statement issued by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on Wednesday night.

Mills arrived in China on July 3 with an ordinary passport, said the statement.

The suspect, An Libo, was apprehended by police officers who were on patrol near the scene of the attack.

An, 35, is a native of Zhaozhou county in the city of Daqing, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. He arrived in Beijing on Wednesday morning by train from his hometown.

Believed to suffer from a mental disorder, An was found to have attacked and robbed people using a knife in Shanghai in January and then sent back to his hometown, said the statement.

Further investigation is under way.