I don’t see anything in the article that states the attack started that morning. It says that i was “first noticed” early Friday morning:

According to remarks by St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, the attack was first noticed early in the morning of Friday, July 25.

I’m not arguing it’s China, just that I didn’t see anything indicating they know when the attack started

That is some quality cat content there. Love it! And I’m not even a cat person.