Winnipeg Bus Passenger Decapitated

Winnipeg Bus Passenger Decapitated
July 31, 2008
A passenger on a Greyhound bus was a victim of a vicious attack. Police don’t know what triggered the attack that night and they don’t know what led to the victim being beheaded.

Witnesses said it appeared to be a random act of violence.


Tim McLean, 22, was the victim that was stabbed and beheaded.

One witness said McLean was sleeping and resting his head on the window at the time of the attack. The witness then heard a disturbance and thought the two men were fighting, however the suspect was repeatedly stabbing the victim.

The witness screamed stop the bus a man is being stabbed and everyone get off the bus. The driver immediately stopped the bus and smartly disabled the bus before exiting.

Police said Vinci Li, 40, has been charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of McLean. A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for Li.

Police would not confirm if McLean was repeatedly stabbed before he was beheaded.
Police reported they were able to apprehend Li when he attempted to jump out of window.

Police said the actions of the passengers and driver may have prevented any other attacks from occurring.

Police said the other passenger were very brave. They reacted swiftly, calmly in exiting the bus and as a result nobody else was injured."

Once the passengers exited the bus a small group decided to go back and try to help McLean. The group was too late. The group got to the back of the bus and found Li had sawed off McLean’s head.

The suspect was holding the head in one hand and the knife in the other. The suspect then attempted to attack the small group of people; they ran off the bus and slammed the door behind them.

Li then attempted to stab the door with his knife to escape and he could not. Li then attempted to start the bus and luckily the driver was smart enough to disable the bus.

A Nova Scotia man who was on the bus, said that the killer taunted the men who were blocking the door from the outside.

"He cut the victim's head off and then walked up to the door holding it and just looked at them crazy-like and then dropped the head and walked back to the body and started cutting it some more one witness said.

The man was left alone with the body and witnesses say that he performed further indignities to McLean.

"We have word from people on the scene . . . that when the killer was alone with the body . . . that there may have been some small acts of cannibalism on the body,"
Meanwhile, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Thursday he was shocked when he heard about the incident.

"Like most Canadians I'm horrified to hear of the account," Day said. "It's more than most people can even contemplate."

He said it was "probably one-of-a-kind in Canadian history.