some people are just mental

[Myron]

By Steve Lambert And Jennifer Graham, The Canadian Press

WINNIPEG - A quiet, easy-going carnival worker who was heading home to Winnipeg has been identified as the victim of an unthinkably horrific and random slaying on a Greyhound bus.

Friends said Tim McLean, 22, was the young man who was stabbed repeatedly and then decapitated by a man sitting next to him, who then carved up his body in front of terrified passengers.

William Caron, 23, of Winnipeg, said that contrary to some reports, McLean was not asleep when the attack happened.

"I was talking to one of his ex-girlfriends not too long ago, and she was texting him the whole way back from Edmonton until 10 minutes before this accident happens," Caron told The Canadian Press.

"He was just sitting there texting her, listening to music on his cellphone."

Manitoba RCMP had few answers Thursday as to what prompted the attack.

Police would only say that a victim was stabbed on the bus that had left Edmonton for Winnipeg, but passengers described a gruesome, unprovoked attack that left them shaken.

"It's not something that happens regularly on a bus," said Staff Sgt. Steve Colwell. "You're sitting there enjoying your trip and then all of a sudden somebody gets stabbed."

Passengers gave a much more graphic account of events.

"We heard this blood-curdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly, like 40 or 50 times," Garnet Caton said from a hotel in Brandon, Man., where he and other passengers had been taken to rest.

"There was no rage or anything. He was like a robot, stabbing the guy."

Caton said the bus stopped immediately, just west of Portage La Prairie on Wednesday night, and everyone scrambled to get out while the attacker started methodically carving up the victim's body, not paying attention to anyone else.

There have been several media reports that the man was seen to consume some of the victim's flesh.

Caton and the driver shut the bus door from the outside while they waited for police to arrive.

"We put our bodies up against the door, waiting for him to come out ... and he went back and brought the head to the front and pretty much displayed it ... and dropped it on the ground in front of us," Caton said.

"All very calmly. He was wearing sunglasses. It was no big deal to him."

Fellow passenger Cody Olmstead from Kentville, N.S., also recalled the chilling scene.

"The guy came to the front of the door with buddy's head in his hands, decapitated. He dropped the head and went back and started cutting the body back up," Olmstead said.

When police arrived a few minutes later, passengers were taken away and the officers tried to get the attacker to surrender.

The man, described as a 40-year-old from outside the province, eventually tried to flee by breaking a bus window and jumping out, Colwell said.

"He was immediately subdued and arrested without incident."

Both Olmstead and Caton said the attacker and McLean appeared not to know each other.

They said the attacker boarded the bus in Brandon on Wednesday night. McLean had been on the bus since it left Edmonton.

McLean's father, Tim McLean Sr., told CBC News Thursday night that he was in the process of trying to get confirmation from the police that his son was, in fact, the victim of the attack.

The father said that his son had sent him a text message as the bus was leaving Brandon, the last leg of its journey, to ask if he could come home for the night.

McLean told his son that, of course, he could come home, and that was the last contact he had with him.

A Facebook website called "R.I.P. Tim" quickly sprang up after news of the attack.

"I can't believe this is happening," wrote Leah Dryburgh of Winnipeg. "Tim, you were the best guy ever. You didn't deserve this at all."

Caron said he was one of McLean's best friends, having known each other since they were in Grade 7.

"I knew he was coming back ... from the (exhibition)," said Caron, who said his buddy worked a carnival booth at fairs around western Canada.

"My brother was supposed to go meet him at the bus depot and he never showed up."

Caron said his three children all loved McLean, who he described as a quiet, easy-going guy.

"I was completely shocked cuz Tim has never been a roughhousing guy," he said. "He's always been a quiet guy, just kind of socialized with his buddies and that was it."

He said his friend was small, around five-foot-four and weighing maybe 130 pounds.

"From what I hear, this other guy is three times his size," Caron said. "All the time I've known Tim, he's never been the type of guy to get into a fight with. He always kept to himself when there's strangers around."

Federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said the full weight of the law must be brought to bear on the perpetrator.

"We want to make sure the process is followed as aggressively as possible, the full legal process ...." Day said from Levis, Que., where Conservative MPs are gathered for a summer planning session.

"This particular incident, as horrific as it is, is obviously extremely rare. Certainly the horrific nature of it is probably one-of-a-kind in Canadian history."

Greyhound called the event tragic but isolated.

A company spokeswoman said bus travel is the safest mode of transportation, despite the fact bus stations do not have metal detectors and other security measures used at airports.

"Due to the rural nature of our network, airport-type security is not practical. It's a very different type of system," Abby Wambaugh said from Greyhound's corporate offices in Texas.

Passengers had no explanation either as to what might have prompted the attack. The suspect had been on the bus for only about an hour and didn't even sit near McLean at first.

"He sat in the front at first, everything was normal," Caton said.

"We went to the next stop and he got off and had a smoke with another young lady there. When he got on the bus again, he came to the back near where I was sitting.

"He put his bags in the overhead compartment. He didn't say a word to anybody. He seemed totally normal. About a half an hour later, we heard this blood-curdling scream."

RCMP had not yet talked to the suspect, Colwell said

[NCAA_Football_Champ]

that is crazy shit. why did nobody try to help the dude getting stabbed? obviously based on this story, the attacker was facing away from the rest of the passengers while stabbing the victim. Why not just club his ass over the head? what pussies.

[Uncle B]

Police identify accused in bus attack

A 40-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with a gruesome stabbing and decapitation aboard a Greyhound bus in Manitoba Wednesday.

RCMP said Friday that Vince Weiguang Li, 40, of Edmonton, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder and is scheduled to appear in court in Portage la Prairie, Man., Friday at 10 a.m. local time.

RCMP have given few details about the baffling homicide.

Passengers described fleeing in terror from a Greyhound bus outside Portage la Prairie as a passenger suddenly stabbed the man sleeping next to him, decapitated him and waved the severed head at horrified witnesses standing outside.

The unprovoked assault left 34 men, women and children stranded on the shoulder of the Trans-Canada Highway about 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg, watching while the bus driver, a passenger and the driver of a passing truck shut the crazed attacker inside the bus with the mangled victim.

"He didn't do anything to provoke the guy," said Garnet Caton, 26, a passenger on the bus, which originated in Edmonton and was bound for Winnipeg. "The guy just took a knife out and stabbed him, started stabbing him like crazy and cut his head off."

"Some people were puking, some people were crying, other people were in shock. . . . Everybody was running, screaming off the bus."

Holy shit man, thats nuts...If i were a passenger on that bus, i would definitely demand a discount for my next trip.

[Bostongambler]

Saw it on the news last night. WTF is wrong with people.

[Uncle B]

Originally Posted by Bostongambler

Saw it on the news last night. WTF is wrong with people.

Well, think about it...Those long, boring rides really can be pretty aggravating....No music, nothing to read? Of course a fella's mind is gonna start to wander a bit....This guy was probably just trying to break up the monotony a bit, and went a little overboard.

I blame Greyhound...If they had onboard movies, this woulda never happened.

[Yzerman#19]

just a misunderstanding.

the guy took the "PAY TOLL AHEAD" sign the wrong way.

[Bostongambler]

Or maybe if they handed out snakes (Peanuts, pretzels) his blood sugar level was proberbly low.

[Bostongambler]

Make that snacks not snakes.

ty

[Uncle B]

Originally Posted by Yzerman#19

just a misunderstanding.

the guy took the "PAY TOLL AHEAD" sign the wrong way.

Originally Posted by Bostongambler

Or maybe if they handed out snacks (Peanuts, pretzels) his blood sugar level was proberbly low.

Exactly...Could have been any number of simple little things that just went awry...The guy already spent a night in jail, AND missed his schedlued arrival time...Good God, hasn't he suffered enough? Make the guy promise to never do it again, and force him to ride in the front of the bus next time.

[(sportman)]

Severing the head and then waving it around is just unfvckin' real...

[(sportman)]

Originally Posted by Yzerman#19

just a misunderstanding.

the guy took the "PAY TOLL AHEAD" sign the wrong way.

That is pretty damn funny

[Hartley]

2nd degree murder?? What the hell would the guy need to do to be charged with first? Disgusting!

[Rogthedodger]

I totally do not understand why he wasn't stopped. A KNIFE????!!!! C'mon, have some balls and stop the guy.

[(sportman)]

"Some people were puking, some people were crying, other people were in shock. . . . Everybody was running, screaming off the bus."


I have absolutely no clue how I would react if on that bus..Their had to be some awful amounts of blood

[stevo]

Originally Posted by Hartley

2nd degree murder?? What the hell would the guy need to do to be charged with first? Disgusting!

Weenie roast?

[RaisinCapital]

I would have pulled my spring-action on that crazy fuk and slit his throat. People are fukking pussies these days.

[Yzerman#19]

love all the internet heroes who would have jumped in to save him

The kid didn't have a chance, before anyone realized what was going on he had probably been stabbed 15 or 20 times, was no hope in saving him. Getting off the bus and basically locking him in there was the right thing to do.

However I don't understand the RCMP letting him stay on the bus so long and taunting them with the head in his hands.

[Bostongambler]

LOL... I would of beat him with my 1973 Sal Bando Louisville Slugger

[Bostongambler]

Then I would of went out and got a new tattoo