Posted on 07/31/2008 8:22:23 AM PDT by rface
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. — A man was stabbed to death then beheaded on a Greyhound bus in an apparent random act of violence, according to an eyewitness.
All lanes of traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway remained closed Thursday morning west of Portage la Prairie as the RCMP investigated what they would only refer to as "a major incident" on the bus that was headed from Edmonton to Winnipeg.
At about 8:45 p.m. the vehicle was stopped in the eastbound lane following an apparent assault.
Garnet Caton, one of 37 passengers on the bus, said he witnessed the attack.
"We all heard this scream, this like blood-curdling scream," Caton told CBC Newsworld.
He alleged the suspect had a "large hunting knife" and repeatedly stabbed the victim "like 50 or 60 times."
"The attacker was calmy over top of the victim continually cutting him. I think the victim was gone at that point," Caton told the CBC.
He said the victim appeared to be sleeping before the attack and the suspect was not acting out of the ordinary.
The bus was evacuated, but Caton said he was one of a handful of witnesses who saw the suspect allegedly trying to behead the body.
The suspect later appeared at the front of the bus, he said.
"He calmly walked up to the front (of the bus) with (the victim's) head in his hand and the knife and then dropped the head in front of us," Caton said, adding he believes the suspect later returned to the back of the bus and was seen later "taunting police with the head in his hand out the window."
Caton said the suspect appeared calm.
"What struck me, it was like he was at the beach or something," he said.
The incident took place about 20 kilometres west of Portage.
A Sun Media reporter on the scene reported about three dozen people from the bus were standing outside the vehicle on the highway following the incident.
A female passenger said she heard screams and heard "there was a stabbing."
"They told us to get off the bus," said the woman who did not provide her name.
Another woman at the scene said the passengers were being evacuated from one bus and loaded onto another waiting Greyhound bus.
At one point, Mounties surrounded the bus with one officer standing just a few feet away from an unidentified man sitting in the driver’s seat.
A man was taken into custody after the standoff with police.
Portage RCMP Const. Dave Higgs, who was on the scene, reported "there was a major incident on the bus," and did not provide any other details.
"I can confirm there was an incident on one of our buses,"Abby Wambaugh, media relations spokeswoman for Greyhound Canada, said late Wednesday night.
Wambaugh said a management team would be waiting in Brandon to meet the passengers when they arrived "to take care of any needs they may have," including accommodation, transfers to other buses or even trauma counselling, if necessary. — With files from Canadian Press
Allu Akbar?
I don’t mind pointing a finger.
ROP alert?
I’m thinking Amish...
“there was an incident on one of our buses”
Yeah, I’d say so...
Perp’s name might give us a clue.
Hmmmm...Amish?
Buses in Canada are gun free zones, eh?
The longer they go without providing the identity of the perp, the more likely it is that he is a ROPer.
Yea, I guess you could call that a major incident all right.
Say what you want about the Chinatown buses, I’ve never heard of a random beheading on one of them.
Well, yes, the man beheaded on the Greyhound bus. Where he beheaded to?
Go Greyhound, NOT!
Beat me by 33 seconds
Looks like a bus load of Canadians is still worthless in a knife fight.
I notice “no names” and “no descriptions” and “no real info” in this story, makes for lots of suspicions...........
Canadian/British understatement
I hate when that happens.
uuuuunnnngggghhhhhhhh!!!......................
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