RCMP officers investigate a murder that occured on a Greyhound bus on July 31, 2008 near Portage La Prairie, Man. A passenger was decapitated onboard the bus on July 30, 2008. (AP PHOTO)
(AP) A man aboard a Greyhound bus repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated a fellow passenger, witnesses said Thursday.
The man, who was not identified, was arrested for the murder, which occurred Wednesday night aboard a bus traveling from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
Authorities also declined to name the victim and provided no other details about the attack.
Passenger Garnet Caton said the victim was stabbed 40 or 50 times by the man sitting next to him. The passenger then allegedly severed the man's head with a large knife and held it up by the door for others to see.
"We heard this bloodcurdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly, like 40 or 50 times," Caton said from a hotel in Brandon, Manitoba, where he and other passengers had been taken to rest.
Caton said the bus stopped and the passengers scrambled to disembark while the suspect allegedly began methodically carving up the man's body.
"When he was attacking him, he was calm ... like he was at the beach," Caton said. "There was no rage or, or anything. He was just like a robot stabbing the guy."
Caton said he, the bus driver and a trucker at the scene re-boarded to see what was happening.
Caton said he saw the suspect had the victim on the floor of the bus and "was cutting his head off and pretty much gutting him."
He said they quickly disembarked and braced themselves against the door to prevent the attacker from leaving 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.
Fellow passenger Cody Olmstead told Brandon radio station CKLQ that the man "dropped the head and went back and started cutting the body back up."
Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said 37 passengers and one driver were on the bus.
The victim, who Caton said appeared to be about 19, had been on the bus since Edmonton. He said the attacker boarded the bus around Brandon, Manitoba, about 80 miles west of Portage La Prairie.
The suspect had been on the bus for about an hour and didn't even sit near his victim 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 bloodcurdling scream."
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day called it a "horrific" incident, but did not discuss details of the attack, saying he did not want to jeopardize the investigation.
"We want to make sure that the process is followed as aggressively as possible, a full legal process, and the perpetrator is definitely dealt with the full force of the law," he said.
Day called it bizarre and extremely rare.
"The horrific nature of it is probably one-of-a-kind in Canadian history," Day said.
of course here in the US , it might be beneficial to avoid going to work, school and church.
Oh well. Do we need more agressive anger management courses. like start at age 3 or something?
This message has been edited by Locklady on Jul 31, 2008 2:04 PM
That was too close to home, it was a creepy night overall in southern Manitoba. A friend of my said he felt that the gates of hell must have opened up a bit wider and let a few demons out last night...this was not the only freaky incident last night....
I rode the bus from Memphis Tennesse to Oklahoma City about 12 or 13 years ago. Besides having the dogs check all the luggage and 3 bags were removed before we left. All the handluggage was checked. They did not spend too much time rifling through my late wifes purse. And then we got to sit in front of someone for the first part of the trip who I suspect was a Pimp trying to recruit a couple of extra young ladies for his team if you call it that. That mode of transportation seems to have changed an awful lot since I went from Northern Alberta to South of Mexico City and back by bus over 40 years ago.
As you may have noticed, one of our members of Parliament was talking about 'northern hospitality'. That might include using them as bait for the polar bears on Hudson Bay (sorry to be pedantic, Brent R, but it is not a lake). We're not going to be around Saturday or else I would go to 'do my little part' to keep them away from the funeral.
LOL...good idea BrentR! Put them on the train....they may die of boredom on the ride up there When I was a kid our family took a loooong 24 hr train ride to Churchill. So I'm speaking from experience..ha
WINNIPEG - Funeral services for the young Winnipeg man who was savagely killed while on a Greyhound bus 10 days ago were held in peace Saturday, amid concern an outspoken American church group would hold a protest to further its own cause.
While there was no sign of the protesters by the time the service for Tim McLean began, about 250 people who didn't attend the funeral, waited outside Westwood Community Church, in case marchers showed up. Many said they didn't know McLean but they lined the road because they believed the McLean family had the right to grieve in peace and they were prepared to peacefully block any protesters.
About 10 police cars also patrolled the site.
Close friends and family walked to the Westwood Community Church for Tim McLean's funeral, while thanking the massive number of supporters lining Westwood Drive on August 9, 2008
Winnipeg Free Press
McLean, 22, was stabbed to death and beheaded July 30 as the bus travelled to Winnipeg from Edmonton.
Vince Weiguang Li, 40, a recent immigrant to Canada, is being held as a suspect in the killing, which chilled the nation and garnered worldwide attention.
One group whose interest was piqued is the Westboro Baptist Church, which said it would picket the funeral to inform Canadians that McLean's horrifying death was God's punishment for the Canada's policies which enable homosexuality, abortion, and adultery. The church, not recognized by traditional Baptist conferences and considered a hate group by several organizations, has gained notoriety for picketing the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq.
On Friday, Westboro members had said they feared for their safety in Winnipeg and were having second thoughts about picketing.
A few church members slipped into Manitoba in the middle of the night Thursday, even though politicians had tried to block them at the border, said Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of WBC founder Fred Phelps. She said they sent their picketing signs into Manitoba by courier.
Phelps-Roper had said the signs were toned down to avoid arrest for violating Canada's hate laws. Protesters had vowed to hold signs which read '"Canada is Doomed" and "Prepare to Meet Thy God," rather than their typical anti-homosexuality comments.
Still, Phelps-Roper had said with the prime minister, border services, and the RCMP lined up against them, she was concerned the "law will break down" if they protest in Winnipeg.
Seven members of the group were turned away from the Niagara Falls border crossing Thursday afternoon after Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's office issued an alert not to allow them into the country.
Winnipeg Free Press
paul.gackle@freepress.mb.ca
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When I was a kid our family took a loooong 24 hr train ride to Churchill. So I'm speaking from experience..ha