TORONTO, Aug. 2, 2008
Decapitation Suspect Allegedly Ate Victim
According To Police Tapes, Officers Observed Attacker Hacking Off Pieces Of Victim, Eating Them
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Witness Describes Slaying
"CBS News RAW": An eyewitness describes the brutal killing and decapitation of a seemingly innocent passenger onboard a Greyhound Canada bus traveling between Edmonton, Alta. and Winnipeg, Man
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Vince Weiguang Li, 40, is led into the Manitoba Provicial Court in Portage La Prairie, Man. on Aug. 1, 2008. Li, accused in the beheading of a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba, has been charged with second-degree murder. (AP Photo/Winnipeg Free Press)
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RCMP officers investigate a fatal stabbing that occured on a Greyhound bus on July 31, 2008. (AP PHOTO)
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In the tape of radio transmissions, officers referred to the attacker, who also beheaded the victim, as "Badger." They said he was armed with a knife and scissors and was "defiling the body."
"Badger's at the back of the bus, hacking off pieces and eating it," an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on the tape.
The RCMP described the tapes as "operational police communications and, as such, are not meant for public consumption." The tape was posted on YouTube among other Web sites.
The employer of the man who witnesses said stabbed and beheaded his seat mate on a Greyhound bus in Canada said Saturday that he was in shock to learn that his "model employee" has been accused of the grisly attack.
Vincent Augert, an independent contractor who distributes newspapers in Edmonton, Alberta, said that Vince Weiguang Li, was one of his most reliable carriers.
"He was very punctual and always cleanly dressed," Augert told The Associated Press. "He was a very nice, polite guy. We would've had no reason to let him go before all this happened."
Li faces second-degree murder charges for the brutal late Wednesday murder of a 22-year-old man on the bus traveling a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway about 12 miles from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.
Witnesses described a bloody killing that occurred as some passenger were napping and others watching "The Legend of Zorro" on television screens inside the bus. Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said there were 37 passengers on the Winnipeg, Manitoba-bound bus at the time.
Shortly after passengers reboarded following a break, the suspect - for no apparent reason - stabbed the man sitting next to him several dozen times as others fled in horror, witnesses said. He then severed the man's head, displayed it and began hacking at the body.
Li, who was in court Friday, did not reply when the judge asked him whether 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.
He shuffled into the courtroom Friday in Portage la Prairie with his head bowed and feet shackled.
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. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Li has no known criminal record.
Authorities have not released the victim's name but friends identified him as Tim McLean and said he was headed to Winnipeg after working with the carnival in Edmonton.
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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 to stay away from a fight, Caron said.Badger's at the back of the bus, hacking off pieces and eating it.
Unnamed officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police"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," Caron said.
Friends started a Facebook group to remember him after news of the attack.
Friends told the Globe and Mail newspaper that a small group gathered Thursday outside the home of McLean's father, also named Tim. They greeted him as he returned home from work, and sat with him as he watched the news at his computer for the first time.
Witness Garnet Caton, who was sitting just one seat in front of the two men on the bus, 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 watched in horror as blood sprayed across the back of the bus, he told The Globe & Mail daily.
"He had a Rambo, hunting knife covered in blood and he just kept going at the guy," Caton said. "He was very calmly killing the guy and the other guy was screaming bloody murder," he added.
"There was no rage or anything. He was just like a robot stabbing the guy," 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.
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.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 138 CommentsPosted by Xlib
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Amen to that!....There goes my watching the Food Network tonight!
Guess all the psychopathic killers aren''t in the States after all. I''m glad emigrated to the States where the buses are safe.
"He was very punctual and always cleanly dressed," Augert told The Associated Press. "He was a very nice, polite guy. We would''ve had no reason to let him go before all this happened."
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THAT''S A PSYCHOTIC - ON his meds.
Psychotics try VERY HARD to blend in. They try VERY HARD not do stand out in any way. While they''re on their meds, they are VERY friendly and cooperative.
But if he ever goes OFF HIS MEDS - anything can happen.
Yah, this is textbook psychosis.
If the man was screaming bloody murder while the man was repeatedly stabbing him, he was alive and it does seem someone could have helped. But, people were probably in shock. The scene is really over the top.
I am no judge especially since I wasn''t there and I have never been faced with such a situation.
Posted by rational_1 at 07:34 PM : Aug 02, 2008
The man is crazy. Canada rocks.
Are you really too stunned to figure that out ?
"Guess all the psychopathic killers aren''''t in the States after all."
One of yours must of snuck across the border.:)
It is disturbing. Someone else said that "in Canada" people don''t help one another. Not so. What few incidents that have happened where I live, people haven''t just stood around "watching".
"But, people were probably in shock." Posted by jenny1233 at 08:19 PM : Aug 02, 2008
From my understanding, most people were sleeping.
I have noticed that anytime there''s a story about something in Canada, they usually don''t have the facts straight, or there''s a lot missing.
They did the right thing by preventing him from leaving and disabling the bus.
From this report, it sounds like he must have had a hankering for Mexican. Must have been from watching Zorro.
posted by annie_roxx2
Annie, marry me. :)
I couldn''t have said it better myself.
The guy sitting in front of the attack ( Caron ) said he wanted to help but felt he could be the next victim and fled.He was witnessing a wild animalistic psychopathic scene involving a large maniac with a huge hunting knife. It was in a small, restricted space. The guy ( Caron ) was unarmed. Sounds like a rational decision to me. Sometimes there''s just nothing you can do.
Unlike the Kitty Genovese case, this would seem to be one of those situations.
Someone could have stepped on him.
People are just snappin at the drop of a dime.
Scarey!!
Posted by snowbyrd1
Are you stupid, snowbyrd1, or merely ignorant?
I already SAID,
"The guy was probably a goner after the first stab or two, there''''s nothing the people on the bus could do to save him, I expect..."
Posted by smurfcrusher at 09:04 PM : Aug 02, 2008
...if you were paying attention, I also refuted the assertion he was "big", since the article says he''s 5''4" and 130 pounds.
DUH!
Thats the victim, Tim McLean. The killer, Li, was described as over 6 feet and over 200 lbs and stark raving nuts with a hunting knife isolated at the end of a greyhound bus aisle. Not a good place to attack.
Posted by yamuttya at 10:04 PM
Well, I stand corrected. It was MY turn to say something stupid. :(
The company is now reconsidering whether they want to keep him as an employee. They have taken away his "employee of the year" parking space in the interim.
The part where Caton says he''s ashamed he couldn''t help may be on the cbs video ( who knows ???? ) but I did see it on one of the Canadian sources ( probably globeandmail.com , a Toronto newspaper ).
On the 9 / 11 aircraft the passengers had room to move. There is no such room at the back of a Greyhound bus.
Where the heck is Dudley Do Right when they needed him!
Posted by soldat44 at 11:13 PM : Aug 02, 2008
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Remember just a few months ago we heard about the high school girl who gave birth in a school restroom and the baby drowned when she tried to flush it down the toilet? And we thought "Can it GET any worse than this?"
I remember somebody asking me that, and I said "Yes. Just wait, something worse will happen."
Now this.
What will happen NEXT week? NEXT month? NEXT YEAR???
I feel another 9/11 coming on.
When I got in my truck to drive to work, I turned off the radio in my truck before I turned the key because I didn''t want to hear it. Normally I listened to the "morning show" news on the way to work. That day I didn''t want to hear it, not even for one second.
When I got to work early, nobody was there. I thought "I''m just early." But when the other guys didn''t show up for work, I wondered "Where is everybody."
Then a manager was running through the building checking to see if anyone was there. He saw me and asked "What are you doing here?" I knew better than to say "I work here, remember?" Instead I said, "What happened?"
I knew. I felt it.
I feel it again. It''s coming.
Posted by soldat44 at 11:13 PM : Aug 02, 2008
+ report abuse
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he is on all day and night..you can see him on any liberat media
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But it wasn''t premeditated.
First degree has to be premeditated.
Posted by soldat44
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I think this is one of the most grissly murders I''ve read about in a while, and now to read that he alledgedly ate parts from the victim!. Horrible!. This man needs to be put to death, absolutely.
Posted by libsluv2spit at
This is exactly the kind of paranoid mental illness that this killer suffers from.
Get some help buddy.
Sounds like you''ve od''ed on Rush Limbaugh , Karl Rove and your idiot president.
Yes, I agree with what you said. Furthermore, it seems that all the methods of execution in the West during the last 2 centuries are too humane for this criminal. This criminal germ is of a very rare bread, and should be exterminated with no mercy. Here is the tragic reality: If that creature is only convicted of 2nd degree murder, it could walk the streets again;
If it was found insane, it could theoretically walk the streets again.
Despite my personal opposition to the concept of the death penalty in general terms, Canada has to create a special provision to allow execution in very rare cases like this particular one. This creature is even worse than the notorious Olson, it is like the anthrax germs spreading their terror through their spores.
Posted by fnewton1 at 12:37 AM : Aug 03, 2008
You death penalty types are really too much !!
Canada already has a bunch of these loonies in jail.
Picton, Olson, Bernardo, they''re all the same.
And they will all die in prison.
That''s how civilised societies do it. Check it out America!
You just may ( not holding our breath ) learn something.
he is on all day and night..you can see him on any liberat media
Posted by libsluv2spit at 11:54 PM
Oooh neato! Look ma - crazy faux Christians!
No, you are not getting it. This is for a number of reasons, which include:
(1) Most of the criminals you mentioned have been convicted of 1st degree murder. Now, compare these with the current case.
(2) A civilized society should not in general execute criminal humans. However, this case does not belong to the category of a human killing another. The acts done by this creature in the Greyhound bus would justify putting this creature as a wild and extremely vicious creature.
(3) There is no point at all in making the state to spend a dime in prolonging the life of a germ criminal like that one of the Greyhound bus.
Finally, this topic should not be debate between conservatives and liberals as some try to put it. Read the charges very clearly and read about the criminal code in Canada. If this happens, you will come to understand why this creature could walk the streets again.
Posted by fnewton1
Charles Manson.Why isnt he executed ?
Like Li he is clearly insane .
Any civilized society should not kill the mentally ill.
Punishment is for those who commit crime with intent.
There cannot be criminal intent where there is no logic , no reason.
Was there logic and reason in stabbing a sleeping stranger?
The man is insane.
Posted by fnewton1 at 01:06
He will NOT walk the streets again, dont worry.
Canadians aren''t crazy , nor is Canadian law.
He will die in prison with Bernardo, Olsen and Picton.
Civilized.
Posted by yamuttya at 12:50 AM : Aug 03, 2008
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As long as they''re in prison, there are some do-gooders trying to get them released on parole, for "good behavior," or whatever.
The only way to keep them off the street PERMANENTLY is to execute them.
Unfortunately, "insanity" means HE COULD BE ON THE STREETS WITHIN A MONTH if he PROMISES to stay on his meds this time.
Posted by txgrouch2006 at 01:20 AM : Aug 03, 2008
+ repo
Again, Canadians aren''t crazy.
Picton , Olsen, Bernardo are all nuts.......and they will all die in prison.
With Li.
Canadians are sensible ( health care, gun laws etc).
Don''t worry, this poor sap has seen his last day of freedom.
Life in prison is a lot worse than death. Its pure hopelessness. Not a pretty sight.
Want to know more about the death penalty ?
Ask Steven Truscott. He was in a Canadian prison since the 50''s for a murder he didn''t commit. He was exonerated a few months ago and is now a free man.
Civilized.
You are still NOT getting it. Even a 1st degree murder convict in Canada could walk the streets after the maximum period of 25 years end (there is NO rest of life term in Canada). This is not about being crazy or not, it is about what the law stipulates. Bernardo is highly unlikely to walk the streets again for another reason and that is he was declared a "dangerous offender". Without this, he or any other 1st degree murder convict could walk the streets again in Canada. Some of them aleardy left prison; some die in prison because of drug use or unhealthy life style. Now, for the case of the criminal in the Greyhound case, the description of "dangerous offender" cannot apply. Please read little bit about the law in Canada; it will save some time.
I agree.
There is no way he will be getting out.
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