POLICE: MAN STABBED, BEHEADED SEAT MATE ON GREYHOUND BUS IN CANADA
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Last updated: 2:17 pm
August 1, 2008
TORONTO -- A 40-year-old man who witnesses said stabbed and beheaded his seat mate on a Greyhound bus in Canada made his first court appearance Friday, while police offered no motive for the savage attack against the 22-year-old carnival worker.
Vince Weiguang Li, of Edmonton, Alberta, has been charged with second-degree murder. He shuffled into the courtroom Friday in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba with his head bowed and feet shackled.
He did not reply when the judge asked him if he was going to get a lawyer, and only nodded slightly when asked whether he was exercising his right not to speak. He was not required to enter a plea.
The prosecutor asked for a psychiatric assessment, but the judge said he wanted to give Li a chance to meet with his lawyer. Li's next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.
Authorities have not released the victim's name but The Canadian Press said friends had identified him as Tim McLean and said he was headed to Winnipeg after working with the carnival in Edmonton.
William Caron, 23, said McLean was quiet, though he liked to socialize with friends. He was small - about 5-foot-4 and 130 pounds - and tended stayed away from a fight, Caron said.
"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."
Friends started a Facebook group called "R.I.P. Tim" after news of the attack.
"He was a great person, he was kind, thoughtful, and he did not deserve this. I feel for his parents and sisters and his lil bro," Jossiee Kehleer wrote on the site.
Witnesses said the victim was stabbed dozens of times in the Wednesday night attack aboard the bus as it traveled a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway about 12 miles from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.
They said the attacker then severed his seat mate's head, displayed it and then began cutting up the body.
Garnet Caton, who was sitting just one seat in front of them, said the suspect had been on the bus about an hour. He initially did not sit near the victim but changed seats after a rest stop. Caton said he did not hear the two speak to each other before the attack.
"We heard this bloodcurdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly," Caton said.
Caton said the driver stopped the bus when he became aware of the attack and passengers raced off. A short while later, Caton said he re-boarded along with the bus driver and a trucker who had stopped to see what was happening.
He said the suspect had the victim on the floor of the bus and "was cutting his head off" with a large hunting knife.
"When he was attacking him, he was calm," said Caton. "There was no rage or anything. He was just like a robot stabbing the guy."
The attacker turned toward them and the three men quickly left the bus, blocking the door as the attacker slashed at them through an opening. Caton said the driver disabled the vehicle after the attacker tried to drive it away.
As the three guarded the door with a crow bar and a hammer, the attacker went back to the body and calmly came to the front of the bus to show off the head, Caton said.
Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said there had been 37 passengers aboard, many watching a movie when the violence erupted. She called the attack tragic but isolated.
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The Washington Post had a column - one bit from that article:
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day called the attack bizarre and extremely rare.
"The horrific nature of it is probably one-of-a-kind in Canadian history," Day said.
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The Canadian paper - The National Post also has a story and a photo of Tim.
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The Calgary Herald - more details from witnesses
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When the murderer stabbed Tim, the first time - no one noticed. How about the second time? Third? He was possibly still alive with the third stab. Fourth? Fifth? tenth? Twentieth? Thirtieth? Fourtieth? No. Instead, they all raced off the bus to leave the murderer to cut Tim's head off. I assume all 38 people on the bus were women and children or old people.
Maybe you people need to learn how to be more violent. Ooops. You already are. Whether in Saskatchewan - butchering a family - daughter and her boyfriend slaughtered a family like pigs; on a bus; or in BC by a pig farmer who used a wood chipper ... so why not use this natural aggression you have and save lives. I understand the guy has a knife and you might get hurt ... but someone got very hurt, they got dead and cut into pieces while you fled. Remind me never to get on a plane with Canadians when it gets hijacked.
Unfair judgment. Maybe. But your serial killers make any in the US pale in comparison. Your methods of murdering are as bad as any in the US - and you have 10% of our population - a more civilized (so you say), less violent (so you say) population. I don't care that the killers are 'sick' - I doubt any killer in the US was not sick when they killed. That isn't the point.
Public Safety Minister - you should refrain from comments unless you keep the above three incidents in mind - well over a hundred people slaughtered by the pig farmer. Rare? Yes, I should hope so, or your population would plummet.Canada
Oh canada
What fools you are
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