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Grisly attack on bus in Canada

Sam

(Trigger warnings apply.) I’m very sorry to punctuate your day with something like this, for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, but this is a piece of news that I simply haven’t been able to get out of my mind for the last several hours.

In short, a man of about twenty or so years was stabbed to death and decapitated by the 40-year-old man next to him on a Greyhound Canada bus travelling between Edmonton and Winnipeg. The victim was sleeping with his head on the window at the time. After a standoff of several hours, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police apprehended the assailant. At this time, there have been no reports of a motive, or indeed anything resembling an explanation.

This afternoon on the bus in Vancouver, everybody seemed a little bit on edge, furtively scanning their neighbours for signs of who knows what. I’m sure that things will eventually settle down to normal again soon, but in the meantime many people around here are still in a something of a state of shock. I fervently hope that some sort of resolution can be brought to the victim’s family and friends, and that justice can be served for this awful, terrible crime.

74 thoughts on Grisly attack on bus in Canada

  1. I saw that on CBC’s website at work today.

    Logically, I know this is such big news because it’s so shockingly rare. But… I have so many friends and family who take the bus. It’s so unsettling.

    I’m guessing he’s essentially already been designated a Dangerous Offender. It’s just a matter of making it official.

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  3. Yeah I saw that too, and me and a friend were planning on travelling by greyhound when we come over to north america this autumn. Not something nice to think about. Does anyone know of any cheap alternatives?

  5. The Greyhound is almost completely safe. People concerned that this is a “bus” incident are forgetting that this could have happened on a park bench, in a home, or a waiting room at work. There’s no planning for, or defending against madness. You just have to go about your life as confidently as possible.

  6. Rockit – VIA is NOT cheap, no matter which way you slice it…
    This is such a shocking story!!! I have taken Greyhound many, many times and NEVER has anything like this happened, nor have I heard of any stories like this before!!!

  7. I have a strong suspicion that we’re going to find out that this person is mentally ill, I’d imagine with schizophrenia.

  9. Via is friggin’ expensive. I still plan on taking the Greyhound- it’s not like this shit happens all the time.

    I don’t think this behaviour resembles a person with schizophrenia. It sounds kinda like what they call “antisocial personality disorder”. Mostly though, it sounds like nothing anybody call label, because this is some weird shit.

  10. This is one of those things that is so beyond the pale, there’s really no way you can protect yourself from it. Taking a different bus, living in a different place, not associating with certain people, and some totally off-the-wall thing can still happen. This man wasn’t killed bc he took a Greyhound — he just had the misfortune to be sitting next to a murderer. You’re probably more likely to be struck by lightning on your way to Canada than to have someone stab you to death on the bus.

    You’ll be ok. Don’t let fear keep you from living your life. Be smart, be aware, and accept that beyond that there isn’t much you can do, so it makes no sense to preoccupy yourself with it.

  11. To me this behavior sounds like “scary homicidal.” There’s really nothing to go on to predict a person’s particular mental condition beyond that and I don’t think we should be falling over one another to identify which crazy it is that made the crazy guy kill someone.

  12. Oh boy, I’l be taking the GO bus tomorow, and I’m sure everyone will be giving each other much more cut-eye than usual.

    And I agree with amandaw, let’s not try to assume which type of, if any, mental condition this person may have had.

  13. The first I read about this was on the National Post site, where they describe the victim as aboriginal, in baggy hip hop clothing, wearing earphones listening to music. That describes both of my sons too. They are 15 and 17, not much younger than this 18 to 20 year old passenger. This terrifying and upsetting story got much more terrifying and upsetting for me. I’m afraid that the killer will say that the victim was targeted for being just like my sons. That they are hated for just being themselves.

  14. The frustrating thing about this is that more suspicion won’t prevent more of this — more hugs will.

    But in all seriousness, the rate of random people attacking and beheading other random people on the bus has increased infinitely this week, for the simple fact that this has never happened ever before. A kid got shot to death at a club in Victoria a little while ago, and clubbing in Victoria is still as safe as walking through Beacon Hill Park in the middle of the afternoon.

    I can say, though, that the reaction of the people I’ve talked to about this has been consistently “what the fuck?” It’s fully out of the blue.

    (I heard about it when I just got home from seeing The Dark Knight, FWIW.)

  15. Expecting to live one’s life avoiding apparently random madness like this, is IMHO, like expecting women to prevent assault upon themselves through their own conduct. It’s not the victim’s responsibility.

    When a bus hijacking and stabbing murder occurred in Japan, committed by a 15 year old boy, it sparked some questions about e.g., improving bus security, or more remarkably (but not for Japan), restricting manufacture, sale and possession of knives. Particularly now, when security at the airports is so tight, why can simply anyone get on a bus carrying nearly whatever? This sort of crime could have been prevented.

    btw, I have my own mental health issues. I am not concerned by speculation this person has something seriously wrong with them. That would be a comfort, that this person or others like him could be detected by family, friends or coworkers, and receive treatment. (This is different from the converse, e.g. viewing the mentally ill with fear or suspicion as potential violent criminals.) The alternative, that this is simply random evil (it could happen on a park bench, in your school, at the mall . . . ), or that evil people simply exist, and nothing can be done about it, is the more frightening.

  17. Being a Canadian myself, this story has shaken me to the core. It literally leaves me sick to my stomach.

    And what I think upsets me the most is how detailed all the news reports are. Discussions of decapitation, blood flying and now cannibalism are absolutel disturbing and in my opinion, completely unnecessary. I don’t think I need you to tell me that the witnesses were vomiting all over the place.

    At the very least, the news outlets should prefix the whole articles with a large GRAPHIC CONTENT warning. CBC.ca had one briefly yesterday but it was in significantly smaller font and only included the “video footage” of the incident and not the actual story.

    There is something seriously fucking wrong with our society that a news report includes a MySpace picture of the victim beside a description of his decapitation.

  18. The thing that is most puzzling is 37 passengers walked off the bus without attempting to stop the attacker and help the victim. If I was the victim, I sure hope someone would have stepped in to help.

  19. The most disturbing part of this story is the 33 other passengers who did NOTHING as this young man screamed for help. What is up with THAT? I suspect in the US that assailant would not be alive today, or at a minimum would be in the ICU. Speculate all you want that the bus was full of women and children, but we know at least two were men. And in America, even the woman would have kicked that murderers ass, not run out the door and locked it shut behind them. I love Canada. I’ll remember not to count on Canadians for help if I need it.

  20. This is going to sound awful, but I was not all that surprised by this grisly story. I was watching the news with someone and their face was in total shock while mine was not – that bothered me. It is sad to say that I am so desensitized to these crimes. It must be a combo of watching horrible stories from the Middle East, watching graphic world war 2 documentaries and horror films along with growing up in NYC.

  21. Billy — really? You don’t think that perhaps they were scared for their OWN lives? You have no idea what happened on that bus. Trying to stop a maniac witha knife would be nearly impossible. Even police offers tend to prefer guns over knives, because people with knives tend to be a lot crazier, and a LOT more unpredictable.

    In fact, I’m willing to bet that by walking off the bus, more people were saved. If someone had tried to intervene, the guy probably would have harmed or killed MORE people.

    NotInAmerica? Are you kidding me?! Fuck.

  22. Also, from what I gather from the news story, it all happened really quickly. Suddenly the maniac was on top of the guy, stabbing him. I suspect there was no time whatsoever to think about what to do. More than likely, the guy was dead before anyone would have had a chance to do anything to help. And if they had tried to help, the maniac would have turned on THEM instead.

    To judge these people for reacing the way they did is sick.

  23. Oh, and not only is it sick, but it’s victim blaming. People are NEVER prepared for this kind of thing. WTF were they supposed to do? Take the knife away from him???

    GAH okay, sorry, this shit just pisses me off.

  24. @CM 100% agreement with everything you’ve said. If you listen to the eyewitness reports, they corroborate what you said in 22 (at least from the other passengers’ perspective). One of them also expressed the belief, as you did in 21, that if he had tried to do anything rather than running off the bus with everybody else, he’d have ended up a victim too–and at any rate, the victim was dead before he could have done anything to save him anyway. 23 is also correct: people are, in fact, never prepared for it. How can they? They can’t be looking over their shoulders every second of their lives.

    Quit blaming the victim, everybody. It’s irresponsible and sick.

  25. Yeesh. Know what I dreamt about last night? A decapitated head. In my dream, it was in the middle of a field, in the middle of nowhere, and a lot of people were very upset that news crews had zoomed in for a closeup with their cameras. (Make of that what you will, and my mental state. I don’t mind!) Then I woke up, upset by the dream already, and read this story online over my morning tea. Maybe I should crawl back into bed.

    That poor victim – just a kid! My sympathies also lie with all the people who had to witness this atrocity, including the cops. And NotInAmerica, this guy sounds like he was going absolutely batshit. You weren’t there, you don’t know how strong or fast-moving he may have been. I have every confidence in the world in Canadians’ bravery – and common sense.

  26. ummmm….NotInAmerica – I think you forgot about something that happened not that long ago…you know, like, that whole attack on the world trade centre, where the aggressors had, like, these really sharp nail files!!!!! and they managed to run multiple planes filled with 100s of people into the two towers…yeah…you’re right, nothing like this could ever happen in the U.S. of A.

    You wouldn’t happen to own a shirt with the U.S. Flag on it that reads “These stripes don’t run” would you?

    Ditto to CM and Sam.

  27. This kind of incident is bizarre and terrible…But if it’s a “one of a kind” event in Canada’s history (as they said in the linked news story), why are they talking about inspecting all the passengers/checking carry on luggage now? There is no reason to impose onerous security checks on all the passengers when 99.9%of the time everything was fine. If this was the standard, there would be security checks *everywhere* — x-rays to get into the park, the mall, the grocery store.

    It seems like the best lesson that can be taken from this is about how recognizing and treating mental illness is extremely important. It’s great how much positive treatment the victims are getting. *That’s* something that probably wouldn’t happen in the US. After a quick counseling session, people would be on their own.

  28. I never EVER take greyhound, I take the amtrak busses instead. Amtrak requires the purchase of a train ticket in order for you to take advantage of their buses (which are relatively clean and have a smaller proportion of creeps and run many of the same routes as greyhound) but you do not have to necessarily ever get on that train or buy a very expensive ticket or long train-leg. It costs a few dollars more (really not all that much) and it is totally worth it for the comfort and safety.

    My experience may be different than others’, but I took the greyhound a couple times as a broke (female) 18 year old college student down the coast of california and learned quickly that when convicts get released from jail they get their stuff handed to them in a paper bag and PUT ON THE GREYHOUND (since its the cheapest). And there were quite a few down my route. Now while I’m sure that most of them would not stab me to death, it was creepy enough to avoid several conversations with several men (from various facilities) who had not talked to ANYONE outside of the facility in YEARS.

    The fact that a murder happened in my hometown from excons straight out of the greyhound station also doesn’t make me feel better. Amtrak all the way.

  29. I’m curious about Donna’s comments up the thread? I did a bit of a web search and none of the articles I saw indicated that the victim was an Aboriginal man. It just got me thinking about how it’s not so uncommon for Aboriginal people in Canada to meet a violent end…I’m thinking about all those Native women who were killed by Robert Picton and the many, many, many, many others who went missing along Northern highways…and the awful stories about young Native men being dropped on the outskirts of town by the police and then dying in the cold…

    All of these stories happened in THIS century and so I guess – if this is a Native man – then it’s not such an anomally (sp?) as people here keep saying (including myself).

  30. Well, I’m kinda disturbed by Billy and NotInAmerica’s descriptions of people walking off the bus, but otherwise doing nothing. IMHO, running off the bus while screaming would be more of an appropriate reaction. Oh, wait…that’s exactly what people did. Along w/ some individuals calling for help, blocking the doors, and the driver disabling the bus. Yeah, it would’ve been great if there’d been enough of a tipoff for the attacker to be safely disarmed before he killed his victim. Sounds very much like that wasn’t the case. Fortunately, enough people were able to keep their heads to minimize the carnage. And holding the doors shut on an armed killer is pretty damn heroic IMO.

  31. CM. That’s right. Save your own ass. That 22 year old “probably deserved to have his head cut off”. And no, I’m not kidding, except for the “deserved” comment.

    Lisa, I didn’t forget. In fact I remember one plane that did not hit it’s target because an American quoted as saying “Let roll” put a stop to it, albeit costing his own life. No I don’t own a t-shirt but would nevertheless tried to do something. Where do I get one of those shirts?

  32. Um, NotInAmerica? There was nothing they could do. You’re pathetic. Do you blame the women who get raped for not standing up for themselves and stopping the guy?

    These are victims. You’re victim blaming.

    Also: Troll, much?

  33. CM and Sam – What you fail to understand in what Billy is saying is there were 33 people who fled because of 1 guy with a knife. Sure the guy is a lunatic but come on. People need to stand up and take the power back. It is called selflessness, thinking of others before yourself. It would have only taken a few to overpower this guy.

    But if it’s CM or Sam getting stabbed they’ll be okay with the rest of us just walking off the bus. There are still heros out there (Todd Beamer) just not always when you need them or in Canada.

  34. Um, NotInAmerica, I assume you mean NotInTheUnitedStates, since ‘America’ means the northern tip of Canada to the southern tip of Argentina. You’re no more ‘American’ than someone from Paraguay.

    Are you saying people from the United States are incapable of, upon realising that someone has just been murdered, calmly getting everyone out of harm’s way and containing the guy until the police arrive, and getting him into custody without any further injuries to witnesses?

    How insulting.

  35. NotInAmerica – you and you’re bad grammar need to find someplace else to wank lyrical about how people should respond in crisis situations, which, by the way, is clearly confused by your unhealthy diet of Hollywood blockbuster films. Are you sure the guy didn’t say, “let’s roll”? Or, maybe he said “Make my day” or maybe it was “Not on my watch” or maybe it was…

  36. It’s really easy to be a hero when you’re not the one on the bus. I, for one, would have busted out some mad jujitsu skills, disarmed the psycho, broken his neck with just my ankles, and then put pressure on the victim’s 60 stab wounds and performed mouth-to-mouth until help arrived. And I’m shocked that no one who was actually on the bus had the guts to do that.

  37. God, victim blaming?! REALLY?

    GH — even OFFICERS get uncomfortable around crazy people with knives, because knives are dangerous, sometimes even more dangerous than a gun. And if you actually, you know, read the article, you’ll notice that there was REALLY NO TIME to do anything except run. In fact, the officers in the article aplaud the quick thinking of the other passangers, who got the hell out of dodge and kept the guy from getting out and harming anyone else.

    The fact of the matter is, if someone had tried to help the poor guy, they also would have most likely died. At least this way, only one person died.

  38. NotInAmerica… you should do your research before spewing shit you know nothing about. And “even the women” would have helped? WTF? Not the most enlightened individual are you. Please do Canada a favour and stay south of our border.

  39. You also forget Todd Beamer was given some notice about what was about to happen, no one on the other planes was, and no one in that bus was either. It is extremely hard to think clearly in a crisis situation that comes out of the blue, and instinct tells you to get clear of danger first then think of what to do next. Once the bus was cleared out, one of the passengers, the bus driver, and a truck driver did go back in to the bus to see if the victim was still alive and they could stop it but it was too late by then. Also the description of the attacker is that he was at least 6 ft tall and 200 lbs, with a strong build, not someone small and easily subdued like the victim, at 5’5″ and 130.

  40. It would have only taken a few to overpower this guy.

    What good would that have done though? The victim was already dead, which means the most useful thing to do is get everyone else safely off the bus. Trying to overpower him would have just ended up with more people injured or dead.

    I guess – if this is a Native man – then it’s not such an anomally (sp?) as people here keep saying (including myself).

    Well, it’s an anomaly for someone to get beheaded on the Greyhound. You’re right though, it’s sadly not an anomaly for Native people to get murdered =/

  41. Notinamerica, and anyone expressing similar sentiments, is of course a heartless idiot who no doubt would shit his pants and curl up in the fetal position in a similar situation. Read the accounts of the killing: at random, with no prior conflict, a man rapidly and repeatedly stabbed a stranger at the back of the bus in the throat, chest, etc. It doesn’t take many stab wounds to the throat before it’s reasonable to assume that there’s little you can do to help the guy.

    Moreover, getting off the bus in an orderly fashion, without leaving anyone behind, and then trapping the killer inside, refusing to be intimidated by him as he brandished A SEVERED HEAD AND THE LARGE KNIFE HE JUST USED TO SEVER THAT HEAD, and thus preventing anyone else from being hurt is what sane people call “heroic.” I hope if (KNOCK ON WOOD SO HARD MY HANDS HURT) I’m ever in such a situation I behave that heroically.

  42. Have to agree with NotInAmerica, Billy etc. for the most part.

    There is no factual evidence to suggest the victim was actually dead at the time the first passenger ran off the bus.

    Everyone ran because a spirit of fear got the best of them. In the face of evil, fear spread and unfortunately courage was no where to be found. It’s easy to run, takes no thought. Courage requires bravery in the face of difficult circumstances. We all need more courage if we are to defeat evil and tyranny.

  43. Oh, but LittleMac, the only way anyone ever can be heroic is if they put themselves and other people in danger, dontcha know?

  44. This is why it’s so scary to travel alone.

    Yikes, my heart goes out to his friends and family… Poor guy…

  45. Miles, please stop blaming the VICTIMS. And read LittleMac’s comments. They didn’t just run and hide in a bush; they got off the bus (which was the RIGHT THING TO DO) and kept the guy on the bus so he couldn’t hurt anyone else.

    “There is no factual evidence to suggest the victim was actually dead at the time the first passenger ran off the bus.”

    Ah, I see. So someone should have just walked up to the killer, and checked for a pulse? Really?

    I take it you don’t really know how vicious knife attacks work.

  46. Anyone who does not understand that what these people did heroic has obviously been spoon-fed too much Hollywood ‘heroism’ – blazing guns and martial arts solve everything, don’t ya know? Real bravery is confronting a 200 pound psycho whilst he’s busy hacking off someone’s head!

  47. CM Junior

    Not sure why the passengers in your eyes are more the victims then the young deceased man, Tim McLean.

  48. Nat, they just saw another human being killed in a brutal and gruesome fashion. Don’t you think the survivors would be just a teensy bit traumatized by that? That is what makes them all victims. Not all victims of a crime have physical injuries or die.

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  50. There is a reason fast food restaurants train their low level employees “Don’t try to be a hero”. Just hand over the money and make sure YOU are safe. There is next to no chance you’re going to be able to “save the day!” and a VERY large chance that you can get hurt or killed. (And they don’t want to have to pay liability.)

    In this sort of situation the best thing to do is exactly what people did: Find your way to safety, alert the authorities, and keep the people around you safe. The most anybody would have accomplished trying to disarm this guy is get themself hurt or killed and — much like kicking a beehive — aggravating him further, possibly putting OTHER people in danger of attack as well. The only reason for someone to try to interfere in that situation is spelled E-G-O.

  51. Um, Nat? Are yiou serious? Did you read anything I said? Where did I say that they are more victims than the poor man who was murdered? No where. Please don’t put words into my fingers.

    They are all victims. There was NOTHING the other passangers could have done to stop this — and regardless, how, exactly, is it anyones’ fault that a crazy man killed this guy? Why is it anyones’ fault BUT the murderer? Why are people blaming the other victims for something they had no control over? What were they supposed to do? Jump on the guy’s back and demand he give the knife back? Right. That would have only resulted in the guy stabbing and probably killing MORE people.

    And besides, if you read the article, you’ll notice, the other passangers kept the guy from harming anyone else. If that’s not heroic, I don’t know what is.

  52. Donna

    Reread the statement. Nowhere does it state passangers are not victims. The point is the passangers, while may be victims, are still alive. Tim is dead and some on this blog are sympathzing more with the passengers than with Tim’s family and friends.

  54. Yes, amandaw, yes! They even teach this in defensive training classes. Defensive training classes give you one goal: Fight to GET AWAY. The objective is not to be a hero, or to even knock the guy down. The objective is to give you enough time to RUN LIKE HELL.

  55. It’s like … y’all are saying, “Well, the guy wouldn’t have been killed if someone had helped him!!! It’s all their fault he’s DEAD!”

    Um, no. Wanna know whose fault it is that he is dead? The man that did the murdering.

  56. Is it ironic or oxymoronic to see so many cowards, weak, give-ups, turn and runs on a Feminist site?

  57. Nat … no one was sympathizing more for the passangers. We were pointing out the ridiculousness of NotInAmerica’s and Billy’s comments (and one or two others). We were pointing out the ridiculousness of blaming the OTHER victims for his death. It wasn’t their fault that he is dead, and yet there are a few people here who seem to think it is.

    You might want to actually read the comments before you start yappin’ because no where did anyone say that the passangers who are alive are more victims than the poor dead man.

  58. Miles, who are you referring to? Because trying to stop a maniac with a knife isn’t heroic; it’s STUPID and would just result in more harm and more death. Ask a real police officer. He or she will tell ya the same thing.

  59. I am very, very sorry this man is dead. He did not deserve it.

    But do you know what? He could have been alive today, if somebody had taken him on.

    Short story: I’m no self-congratulatory hero, but some years ago, I was managing a bar when a guy came in, attempted to rob the till with a knife and failed BECAUSE A BUNCH OF PEOPLE PLOUGHED IN TO STOP IT.

    Those people included:

    a) a 150lb male musician, armed with a flute
    b) a 100lb waitress, armed with a plastic tray
    c) a 130lb me, armed with TEH BLIND RAGE (it was my bar and no f*cker was stealing out of my till)

    I’m pleased and proud to stay all the people involved acted out of instinct and not a sense of blind self conservation. They saw and correctly judged that a number of people could act in such a way as to take another person out of danger and did so.

    It is actually quite easy for a number of people to take one person to the floor – try it, it’s not difficult to for a crowd to overpower one person.

    Sorry, but I’m mildly ashamed of the human race that somebody could be DECPAITATED in the presence of 30-odd other people.

    As they say, all it takes for evil to triumph is for one good person to do nothing.

  60. You know, I’m mildly ashamed of the human race that victims of violent attack would be berated because they failed to physically fend off the attacker, in the heat of the moment, with no warning.

    I’m sure there are some white men out there who have pulled their poor asses up by their boot straps, fat people who have lost a bunch of weight and kept it off, and people with disabilities who have “overcome” their condition, but that does not give them license to judge other people who did not see such fortune.

    And make no mistake: that’s all it is. Fortune.
    “Hard work” is how privileged people rationalize their high status.

    Sorry — I’m just telling the blunt truth ‘n all.

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  64. You know, I’m mildly ashamed of the human race that victims of violent attack would be berated because they failed to physically fend off the attacker, in the heat of the moment, with no warning.

    Undersigned in full. Sam, can we maybe get some aggressive moderation on this? The thought of any of the passengers finding and reading some of the remarks here is making me ill.

  65. This is a terrible story.

    I’m fairly certain that Miles, Nat, NotinAmerica, and Billy are the same person. And are also John Derbyshire, as their comments are eerily similar to his idiotic rants about those who survived Virginia Tech. His “arguments” were just as ridiculous and ripped off from John Wayne movies. It’s easy to identify someone who has ACTUALLY survived violence / who has been forced into situations involving violence where they had to defend themselves or others: THEY DON’T SECOND-GUESS THE ACTIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE WHO FACE VIOLENCE. Which makes me doubt Rhona a little bit, unless she’s just insensate. Yeah, Rhona, good for you, you and your friends risked their lives to save the money in your till and were probably within the 3% of success stories under those circumstances. At least you are up front about your values and priorities.

  66. Have those people saying the other passengers should have done something watched any of the interviews with the fellow passengers? From the news segment I saw, which featured an interview, the victim had already been stabbed several times before people processed what was going on.

    As it’s been stated here, it is fairly easy to judge those aboard the bus. I don’t think you can say “I would have done this or that” with any degree of accuracy. Could they have fought the assailant? Maybe. Could many more people have been injured or died given that course of action? I think that is quite likely.

    What happened is horrifying, and it is very sad that people would throw accusations as those passengers who I imagine are already extremely traumatized by what happened.

  67. Unfortunately there are many other lost souls on this same stretch of highway known as the Yellowhead. Most of these are young women who were murdered whilst hitch=hiking. That is a tragedy too, but if the full story was published, then we may be even more shocked.

    The moral of this story is that one should not travel alone…even on a Greyhound Bus…and since there are no metal detectors as there are at airports, then we can take chances.

    I was took a Greyhound bus from Kamloops to Clearwater one day. Half way through the trip, just outside Barriere, the bus driver passed out. I noticed him falling over from his seat onto the steps. I immediately jumped up and bolted to the front of the bus. The bus hit the cement retaining wall (fortunately) and bounced over into the uncoming lane. By the time I reached the driver, the bus was straddling the center line. I was experienced as an off highway truck driver. So I grabbed the steering wheel and pushed the driver out of his seat. As soon as I took the wheel, I noticed 2 transport trucks (semis) headed directly for the bus in the opposite lane. I steered the bus over to the correct lane and brought it to a stop. There were only 7 passengers on board at the time, all bound for Clearwater. They included two young women and two small children: and they all screamed in desperation before I took the wheel. The front bumper fell off when it hit the curb and there were sparks.

    When I stoppped the bus the driver was unconscious, and when he finally came too, he ran out of the bus and hid. After about 5 minutes he appeared, and his face was a deep red and purple.

    I believe that he had a seizure.

    What did Greyhould do?

    They did nothing. They asked me to attend a hearing before the union in Calgary. I told them that I was too busy…and and that if they wanted me to be present they would have to compensate me X number of dollars. I broke some of my ribs during the accident when I bolted up from my seat. The sent me a congradulatory gift certificate worth $100. The Clearwater Times published an account of the accident in the paper.

    Now that I think about it all, I should have sued Greyhound for the injury, the fear and the inconvience, as should the other passengers.

    Greyhound leaves peoples luggage out in the night in small towns even when there is no one there to take them. We have friends who we had to call because Greyhound left the luggage of our friends on the pavement.

    The bus in Canada is Greyhound, and there should be a bus company which is more careful and considerate.

  68. People have emotional reactions to traumatic situations. Some try desperately to do something and some enter a state of shock and freeze up on the spot. Maybe it would have been different if there had been someone on the bus who was the fighting type, but then again, there could have been more murders if someone had. It could be that everyone on the bus was the running away type. You can’t blame people for having the wrong emotional reaction to trauma. Nobody ever sits around planning what to do if someday they are on a bus and someone severs someone’s head. Who would have thought? We weren’t there and none of us know how we would have reacted. The other passengers could have been in so much shock that they couldn’t even think of what to do.

  69. Shiiiit. I can’t believe something like that happened — it sounds too gruesome to be real. And yeah, I’m Canadian and know my homeland is not some peaceful crime-free utopia, but still, that something like that could happen there! The guy’s poor family.

    Trolls in comments: take off. Rule one of handling an emergency is don’t make yourself a casualty. It sounds like the passengers did the right thing in a horrifying situation.

  70. “Caton, the driver and a trucker who had stopped at the scene boarded the vehicle to see if the victim was still alive.

    “When we came back on the bus, it was visible at the end of the bus he was cutting the guy’s head off and pretty much gutting him up,” said Caton.

    The attacker ran at them, Caton said, and they ran out of the bus, holding the door shut as he tried to slash at the trio.”

    What do you mean no one tried to help? They got everyone off then went back. This is a non-issue.

    Anyways, I feel bad that the stabbing victim died. I feel terrible for his family. But honestly the others on that bus, they will never be right again. There were many children who witnessed a murder and beheading! Yeah, I wouldn’t ever be able to sleep or eat again.

    My thoughts are with everyone involved.

  71. Years ago, the girl across the road was getting badly beaten- pistol-whipped, actually- by her ex. In my yard. I walked out into the midst of the situation, confronting this man who had a loaded gun, until the cops arrived.

    Today, I take my kid with me everywhere I go. Had I been in that bus, guess what? I would have gotten myself and my kid off the bus. Sometimes, there really is NOTHING that you can do.

    In the interest of full disclosure, I am a woman from the US.

  72. prplecat, I would like to second what you said.

    On my own, as a small (5’1″ woman) I have confronted burglars and gang members.

    If I have a child with me, as I often do now, I run and call the police instead.

    I also live in the US.

    May G-d have mercy on the victims family as they now have to live with the mental pictures.

  73. Pingback: The Canadian Bus Killer - Cannibal « Mikeb302000

  74. I’m looking for specific ideas on what I could have done to help the victim if I had been a passenger on that bus.
    I could not have just left him. It would haunt me.
    I don’t know of anything I could have used as a weapon on that bus. It would not be enough to hit the murderer with my purse. I’m not a trained fighter. There is little room to maneuver on the bus.
    But I would have had to do something. I’m sure there are answers out there.

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