Thursday, August 7, 2008

Death on a Greyhound Bus


Last week, something truly horrible happened on a bus journey in Canada. Many headlines on the internet news caught my attention. Most went something like this..." Man on Greyhound bus beheaded ! " For others the keyword might be "beheaded". However it was the mentioned of " Greyhound bus" that jolted me enough to now blog about it.
The accompanying report below is from foreign news sources. The most unfortunate victim was a young man named Tim McClean [ see photo]. For details read the report below.
My wife D2, and daughter D4 had travelled on similar Greyhound buses in 1992 December in the US. We made many cross -states trips from New York to Boston to Buffalo, Las Vegas to Grand Canyon, to Los Angeles, San Francisco etc..
Generally speaking, we found Greyhound service reliable in terms of getting from point A to B or wherever. But even back then, having travelled for a month before D2 and D4 joined me later that year, I had lots of genuine apprehension about safety of passengers, travellers. I'm not faulting Greyhound at all. I was even accosted several times, twice in Brooklyn , NYork and once near Disneyland, LA. I survived without a scratch nor lost even a cent...that's really something in the crime infested times of those years.
While in the Greyhound buses, and at the depots or interchange, invariably we saw many unsavoury characters...blacks, whites,latinos and even Asians. They did not look like your typical traveller. Many boarded without any bags..no luggage. To me, from long experience, that is usually not a good sign.
I was always on 100 % ALERT and constantly on my guard while travelling.
There were many a time when I was accosted in my travels in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Europe, China, Turkey etc.... But I was already 2-3 steps ahead of the accosters and could therefore take evasive action before any thing bad happened.
For one of these REAL LIFE incidents go to my early post entitled, " Travellers Tales...Travelling on Greyhound Buses " dated Monday 24th September 2007, on this blogsite.
Beheaded Canada bus man 'named'

Vince Weiguang Li has been charged with second-degree murder
A young man beheaded in a savage knife attack on a Canadian cross-country bus has been identified by friends as a "bubbly" 22-year-old man.
Canadian police have not yet formally confirmed the victim's identity, but friends paid tribute on Facebook and in e-mails to Canadian media.
One told broadcaster CBC that Tim McLean, the presumed victim, was loved by many and called him a "ladies man".
Police have charged Vince Weiguang Li, 40, with second-degree murder.
Mr Li, of Edmonton, Alberta, appeared in court in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, on Friday.
He said nothing when the judge asked whether he was going to use a lawyer, merely nodding when asked whether he was exercising the right not to speak.
The judge said Mr Li should appear in court on Tuesday after he had had an opportunity to speak to a lawyer.
Well-loved
Newly-established Facebook groups and Tim McLean's Myspace page have filled with messages of support for the victims' family after news of the horrific killing.
Eyewitnesses on board the bus, which was travelling through a desolate stretch of Canada's vast prairies, said the victim was stabbed 50 or 60 times by the man sitting next to him.

Friends say the victim is Tim McLean, but police have not confirmed this
The attacker then severed his head with a large knife, reportedly brandishing the head to terrified passengers.
In an e-mail to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a friend of Tim McLean, Jossie Kehler, told of her sadness.
"He has a lot of friends and they are all very upset he's gone, and they would like to say they miss him and he will always be in their hearts," she wrote.
On Facebook, news of the killing led to hundreds of friends and well-wishers joining a tribute group.
The site description read: "RIP Tim McLean, you are loved and you will be missed dearly! That man will pay for what he did! We love you!"
'No rage'
The attacker was arrested after a lengthy standoff with police late on Wednesday night.

Police say they do not know what may have provoked the attackOne passenger, Garnet Caton, said many of the 37 passengers saw the attacker "cutting the guy's head off and pretty much gutting him up".
The attacker ran at them, Mr Caton said, and they ran out of the bus, holding the door shut to prevent him getting out.
The attack appeared to be unprovoked and it is thought the killer did not know his victim.
The passengers, many of whom were badly shaken by what they witnessed, were taken to a hotel in Brandon, Manitoba, and were given crisis counselling.

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