Manitoba bus stabbing/ beheading

[kratz]

I was reading the news from Google and thought of your comment OD when I noticed that the headlines about the beheading are now making headlines:

from Canoe - CNEWS  Bus stabbing in Manitoba grabs International media attention

More on the story above in the link.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Had they just banned guns this would never had happened!

Going after a whacko with a big knife on a dark bus when everyone is in condition white and dozy, would be difficult, I won't be pointing any fingers. However if you are in such a position Dry chem fire extinguishers are your friend, they will blind and choke the person, giving you a chance to escape or nail them with the extinguisher, I had to use this method a few times.

 

[WannaBeFlyer]

Bus stabbing in Manitoba grabs International media attention

Stabbing?
"The man, with the head in one hand and the knife in the other, then tried to attack the other passengers, said Oliver. " Source: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080731/Manitoba_bus_080731/20080731?hub=TopStories

Of course it is international news. A stabbing is one thing, but this is unreal.

 

[The Bread Guy]

This didn't take long - was this remark unsolicited....

"(Public Safety Minister Stockwell) Day says he wouldn't even entertain the notion of registering knives as dangerous weapons, noting that millions of kitchen knives alone are likely sold each year."

Source:  http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gucXyGORKt6zHK_4StpKtCZuZCiQ

...or was it the result of a question from a reporter?  Anyone?  Anyone?

Also, if you're interested in other countries' media take on this, here's how Indo-Asian News Service, Agence France Presse, Bloomberg (U.S.), the Press Association (UK), Reuters (UK), and BBC are running the story.

 

[Thompson_JM]

Probabbly a safe bet that grayhound will be pulling all of their "ever heard of bus rage" billboards down.......

poor bastard.... thats the kind of thing I expect to see on Al-Jazeera happening in Iraq... not here in Canada..... Mental Illness or not, the guy should never see the light of day again, period.

I feel for his family.... I cant imagine how they will even begin to try to get any kind of closure over this... or try to make sense of any of it...

makes me wonder what the hell kind of world we live in these days...

 

[adaminc]

People should be allowed to have concealed weapons w/ the appropriate permits. Something like this could have been stopped, or at least it could have been prevented from becoming so gruesome.

 

[top4u20]

I was not even on this bus and I can't get it out of my mind. What a completely retarded act of violence. The killer definately had everyone at a disadvantage..being late at night...dark bus etc. IMO there should be more security on buses, sad but true. I hope this is not another one of those "plead insanity" and sits in some hospital ward all his life. This is a true example of why the death penalty should be brought in. Very obvious "guilt" on this one. It will be very interesting to see what background this guy has?

 

[geo]

On the news last night they were pointing out that Greyhound busses in the US had an incident around 9/11 where a passenger slit a driver's throat.  Eversince, the US bus drivers have a plexi shield preventing anyone from getting at their back.... might be time to get those in Canada.

Passengers were able to remain relatively calm,  Driver got the bus pulled over, the passengers evacuated & the vehicle immobilized.  A trucker armed 3 or 4 passengers with hammers & tire irons and they got the agressor boxed in - awaiting the RCMP... good work by all in a very tense situation.

 

[NL_engineer]

This didn't take long - was this remark unsolicited....
Source:  http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gucXyGORKt6zHK_4StpKtCZuZCiQ

...or was it the result of a question from a reporter?  Anyone?  Anyone?

Also, if you're interested in other countries' media take on this, here's how Indo-Asian News Service, Agence France Presse, Bloomberg (U.S.), the Press Association (UK), Reuters (UK), and BBC are running the story.

I seen the interview on CTV news net, the reporter was talking about a knife registry, when Mr. Day responded with something like so how do you propose we register the 20 million knives sold last year.

 

[top4u20]

A simple metal scan prior to boarding might solve this issue. Minimal carry on, and all luggage to cargo hold. Yes, it will take longer to board but in the end make all bus travellers a bit safer. It sucks as ticket prices would inevitably go up as most everything dealing with public travel is doing now.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how all this plays out in the coming weeks and likely months or possibly years.

Cheers

 

[top4u20]

Here is the latest.....RCMP have charged Vince Weiguang Li, 40, with second-degree murder after 22-year-old Tim McLean was stabbed and then decapitated in a vicious attack on a Greyhound bus.

I wonder how long this guy was in the country?

 

[The Bread Guy]

I wonder how long this guy was in the country?

Careful, now - would you ask that if he had an Italian or Finnish surname?

This web page has a history of cutting/pasting news releases verbatim, and I couldn't find any statement yet on the RCMP national web page, so here's one early version of the RCMP statement. 

A bit more detail on CBC.ca, CanWest, Canadian Press...

On the news last night they were pointing out that Greyhound busses in the US had an incident around 9/11 where a passenger slit a driver's throat.  Eversince, the US bus drivers have a plexi shield preventing anyone from getting at their back.... might be time to get those in Canada.

Similar events have happened here in Canada as well - I remember this one, having been a reporter @ the time, and the National Post highlights a couple of more here.

Also, a bit of a warning from 2001

Edited to add latest media mentions....

 

[krustyrl]

Just waiting for the demand for "Bus Marshals".

My sympathies go out to the victim's family for such a senseless act.

 

[top4u20]

My apologies if I took the name the wrong way...but too me the first thing that came to mind was a landed immigrant that was pissed at the government for not allowing a work visa or refugee status and decided to take it out on one of our outstanding citizens.
I feel extremely sad for the victims family especially under the circumstances they way this happened.

 

[vonGarvin]

Here is the latest.....RCMP have charged Vince Weiguang Li, 40, with second-degree murder after 22-year-old Tim McLean was stabbed and then decapitated in a vicious attack on a Greyhound bus.

I wonder how long this guy was in the country?

I'm not sure.  I mean, he was a carny, so Mr. McLean could have been an American for all we know.  Why do you ask?  It matters not his home country, but only that the poor bastard was murdered for no apparent reason, good or bad.

 

[top4u20]

Mortarman...I was talking about the killer not the victim.

All good.

 

[marshall sl]

Sorry,...I've been doing this job too long to believe that.

Try to form someone against their will......................

Well said Bruce. After working as a Co for 26 years I have seen the same thing.

 

[Neill McKay]

A simple metal scan prior to boarding might solve this issue. Minimal carry on, and all luggage to cargo hold. Yes, it will take longer to board but in the end make all bus travellers a bit safer.

No it wouldn't.  The murderers would just do their stabbing and beheading outside the bus terminal, or in any of countless other places. 

We could put metal detectors at the entrance to every home and make sure nobody ever goes outside with a knife.  Otherwise we should just live with the one in several thousands risk of being stabbed as part of the price of living in a free country, and not succumb to knee-jerk reactions every time something bad happens.

 

[observor 69]

Greetings fellow posters!

IMHO, A classic example of Canada's mental health system deteriorating.

These days, people with mental illnesses who should be in an institution, are now left with a pocket full of pills, and pointed the door.

That is a twisted story, and I am shocked, but not surprised.


Happy days,

OWDU

Living in the GTA I agree and also from personal experience with Bruce.

 

[Pelorus]

but too me the first thing that came to mind was a landed immigrant that was pissed at the government for not allowing a work visa or refugee status and decided to take it out on one of our outstanding citizens.

I fail to see how mass speculation due to your personal prejudice is relevant to this event.