Passenger stabs random person on a bus and decapitates him for no apparent reason

user79

Well-known member
Happened in Manitoba July 31.

globeandmail.com: Decapitated bus passenger, man was 'totally calm' during attack

Decapitated bus passenger, man was 'totally calm' during attack



BRANDON, MAN. - A young man travelling on a Greyhound bus was stabbed to death and beheaded by a stranger in a horrifying act of apparently random violence.

The incident occurred on a bus travelling from Edmonton to Winnipeg just before 10 p.m. Wednesday.

A man of about 18 who was sleeping with headphones on was attacked by his seat mate, according to the man who sat in front of them.
RCMP officers investigate a 'major incident' that occured on a Greyhound bus Thursday morning about 18 kilometres west of Portage La Prairie, Man. John Woods/The Canadian Press
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RCMP officers investigate a 'major incident' that occured on a Greyhound bus Thursday morning about 18 kilometres west of Portage La Prairie, Man. (John Woods/The Canadian Press)
Manitoba RCMP have few answers on attack

Police had no answers Thursday as to what prompted a man on a Greyhound bus to suddenly stand up and repeatedly stab his seatmate and behead him in front of horrified passengers.


He was stabbed repeatedly with a large hunting knife, sending blood spraying across the interior of the bus. The driver quickly pulled over and passengers fled out the front door.

The attacker then sawed off the victim's head and carried it to the front of the bus.

The two did not apparently know one another. The victim boarded the bus in Edmonton, one witness said, and the attacker boarded in Manitoba.

A standoff with police ensued until about 1 a.m. local time.

A 40-year-old man was taken into custody.

Garnet Caton, 26, was sitting in the seat in front of the attacker.

"I was just reading a book and all of a sudden I heard a guy screaming. I turned around and the guy sitting right beside me was standing up and stabbing another guy with a big Rambo knife," he said.

"Right in the throat. Repeatedly."

The man wielding the knife had a shaved head and was wearing sunglasses, he said.

"He looked totally calm. He didn't say a word I don't think to anybody on the bus ... nothing. Just totally calm."

Mr. Caton said most passengers were sleeping at the time and didn't realize what was happening.

"I screamed 'stop the bus!' ... Everybody got the hell off, and people at the front of the bus didn't really understand what was going on. It almost turned into a trample scene there, everybody trying to get off the bus. But the guy didn't care at all. He wasn't concerned with anybody but the guy he was stabbing.

"The guy was totally calm. When he brought the head he looked at us and dropped it. It was like he was having a day at the beach. He couldn't be bothered by anything else."

Passenger Cody Olmstead from Kentville, N.S., said he had just smoked a cigarette with the victim at the last stop in Brandon. He said he believed the victim had gotten on the bus in Edmonton.

"We just left the town of Brandon and we were watching Zorro and the next thing I know I hear somebody scream and I look back and there's some big guy holding this little fellow up between the bathroom door and the seat," Mr. Olmstead told CBC News.

After passengers fled the bus and braced the door to keep the attacker inside, he returned with the victim's head, Mr. Olmstead said.

"His hand come out the door with the knife," he said. "He went back on the bus and then they [passengers] brace the door and he come back standing in the doorway with the head, looked at them, dropped the head, went back and started cutting buddy back up."

As night fell and police surrounded the bus, the suspect taunted police officers, Mr. Olmstead said.

"He comes up and he picks the head up and he's waving it in the window. I just smoked a cigarette with this man [the victim] earlier, the head, and he's shaking it back and forth at the window and it's ... intense right, it's sickening."

RCMP Sgt. Steve Colwell provided few other details at a press briefing Thursday afternoon. He referred to the crime as a stabbing, but refused to confirm whether or not the victim had been decapitated. Sgt. Colwell said the suspect was arrested just before 1:30 a.m. when he tried to escape through a broken bus window after a prolonged standoff with police.

Sgt. Colwell said the suspect, who has yet to be charged, is believed to have been from out of province. He refused to name him or the victim. He also refused to confirm the victim's age or where he is from.





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Wow. Talk about random and horrific! :0
 

TDoll

Well-known member
Oh wow. These types of stories scare the hell out of me. You never know what's sitting next to you in public places I guess.
Yet another reason to appreciate every second of life! You never know.
 

Pushpa

Well-known member
this was just so horrible and random its all over our news...i can't image how the victims fam is coping

when i first heard about this attack all i thought was that the accused had a psychotic break...they are saying that it might have been a drug induced

even more sad is that no one did anything to help...
 

gigglegirl

Well-known member
honestly what could they have done? this guy (from what I've heard with the extensive news coverage here) was going on a stabbing rampage, so after people heard the initial howl and ran off the bus, I doubt there was much they could do for the individual, as with the amount of bleeding that was occurring he probably died quickly. plus its on a rural highway so its not like they are right outside a hospital. the guy lost it and i'm sure no one else wanted to possibly be a victim.

from the latest I read is that the 40 year old killer (apparently from Edmonton) still hasn't asked for a lawyer. something definitely wrong.....grrr it just baffles and frustrates me how it was apparently unprovoked though now they are saying the 20-something who died wasn't asleep at the time. i just cannot imagine for those that witnessed it...what trauma they are going through.

What the heck is going on in this world.....
 

Blushbaby

Well-known member
Apparently he was eating the victims flesh when police arrived.

My heart goes out to his family. I read earlier today that his father was still trying to get in touch with his wife who is on a cruise.
 

NicksWifey

Well-known member
Ok, first off, this pissed me off for many reasons.
I read this story yesterday in the news paper and my first thought was "WHY DIDN'T ANYONE STOP HIM?!?!"
You know I realize that probably not much could've been done for the helpless victim, but my god a bus full of fucking people and nobody did anything but run off the bus.
I'm sorry, but there's no way in hell I could witness that happen and not do something about it. Even if I got hurt in the process, I could not just turn my back and flee on an innocent human being that's being attacked viciously for no reason.

I seriously cannot not even begin to fathom why people behave like this and nor do I want to. My dad has told me horror stories from riding the Greyhound bus years ago when he was in the military, but I've never heard anything as bad and shocking as this.
 

Mabelle

Well-known member
the only source that i saw mentioning cannibalism was the globe and mail. no one else (from what i have seen) has reported that. I think that might be a touch of sensationalism that people are going with. This is such a vile act, that would be the most macabre icing on the cake.

And as for why people didn;t help, i have read/heard from multiple papers that they did try and go back on the bus. They told the victim that they would come back in, i guess they wanted to make sure everything else was safe. One source claimed that by the time they re enter he was hacking off the victims head, a few others claimed that he started coming at them with a big long hunting knife. Either way, at that point, the victim was already dead.

This is highly disturbing. Events leading up to this (on the attackers side) don;t seem to be conclusive with drug use. He had told his boss that he would be taking time off in july to go to a job interview. One day he just didnt show up for work. His boss called his wife, and she said she didn't know where he was. But that (day of the murder) day he called his wife like nothing was wrong. I think he had a psychotic break... but who knows. To me this sounds like something went seriously mentally wrong with this guy for a short time... the fact that he's now refusing to speak or consult with a lawyer. It seems to me that he knows hes done something unspeakable... at least i hope thats the case.

I just feel horrible for the friends and family. Not only do they have to deal with the sudden death of their friend/son/brother, but to know that he died such a violent way. That his body was defiled so. Thats awful. I don't think they'll ever be able to get over his death. Them or the witnesses. Apparently there were quite a few small children on the bus.
 

Le-Saboteur

Well-known member
It's easy to say 'If I was there, I could not stand by and watch that happen," but there is no way you could know without being in that situation. Think about it, there is a man pushing another guy up against the bathroom door, stabbing him in the throat... Blood everywhere, this guy is screaming. The first thought for everyone on that bus would be self preservation. Unless some one had managed to knock the killer out before he stabbed the victim, it's unlikely they could have done anything to help him anyway, it probably would have resulted in another casualty or at least injury, unless they were armed with something.

It really is a sad story. I've heard that a lot of people are calling for the death penalty, but I don't think that's the right answer for anything... I don't know what else is, though. What a horrible thing to have witnessed.
 

Mabelle

Well-known member
Imagine, your husband leaves town for the weekend, you don't know where he is, and all of a sudden you've found out he's brutally murdered a young man for no reason, beheaded him, possibly cannibalised him. What if he had a psychotic episode for an undiagnosed mental illness. The mind is a very very complicated thing. Theres so much wiring up there, so many chemicals. If this is indeed what was behind the attack, and he;s returned to sanity, i think life in prison will be punishment enough. He will have to live out his days knowing that in the span of a few minutes he did all that. I wouldn't be able to. I'd hang myself in my cell. Thats a fact.

I don't think this will bring the friends/family any solace... but death is never the answer to more death. That's how wars are started is it not? you killed my guy, so ill kill you. It's not on the same scale, but its the same principal.
 

Sushi.

Well-known member
this is so scary. im from edmonton
ssad.gif

but from what i heard he stabbed the guy ALOT, like 40 times, i know none of us can say what we would or would'nt do in the situation if we have never been in it, but i just hope that i would be a person to try to stop him.

My guess and hope is after this attack, they will start being more strict with buses like they are planes. like possibly searching people and their bags before they get on, for safety. Even tho this is not something that happens often, if they could save one life in 10 years, its still worth it, cause this is just horrible.
 

Mabelle

Well-known member
the problem is grey hound travels to such remote areas. there are sooo many bus terminals. hiring extra security would be a nightmare. i'd like it to happen, but i dont think it will.
 

gigglegirl

Well-known member
I think the cannibalism is a far stretch--I think thats a rumor someone made up b/c honestly i've not heard that on our news at all, or in the papers I've read. But its seriously effed....

theres no need to worry about the death penalty--here in Canada we don't do that. But don't get me started on our justice system, someone can kill another person and get life, but "life" doesn't mean life, only 25 years or so, but then if they have good behaviour.....

my worry is that this guy may not even stand trial--there are reports that they will plead something to do with insanity/mental break what have you. So I'm not sure on what that will mean in terms of time, because honestly this guy should never be allowed to walk free ever again.

we don't know exactly what all happened but I think it was far too late for the victim, because like I said, I think he hit the jugular pretty quick so there was probably little hope. I heard a passing truck driver stopped to help so once everyone was off the bus, he passed everyone weapons like hammers, crowbars, whatnot just incase the lunatic was able to get out (though I read they had blocked the door so he couldn't get off), then he tried to drive the bus away but luckily the bus driver had disabled the bus' wiring.

I agree with Mabelle though. Due to the nature of the Greyhound bus system, it will be unlikely that there will be increased security, would be hard to implement, plus this is quite the isolated circumstance it seems. Ugh this just saddens me though.
 

Shaquille

Well-known member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blushbaby
Apparently he was eating the victims flesh when police arrived.

Wow, are you serious?? I didn't know about this one.
Serious cannibal they've got there
nonono.gif
 

GreekChick

Well-known member
I don't think he ate the victim's flesh. That's the media adding their own version to make an already traumatic story worse.
 

user79

Well-known member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Le-Saboteur
It's easy to say 'If I was there, I could not stand by and watch that happen," but there is no way you could know without being in that situation. Think about it, there is a man pushing another guy up against the bathroom door, stabbing him in the throat... Blood everywhere, this guy is screaming. The first thought for everyone on that bus would be self preservation. Unless some one had managed to knock the killer out before he stabbed the victim, it's unlikely they could have done anything to help him anyway, it probably would have resulted in another casualty or at least injury, unless they were armed with something.

Yep. Social courage is very low in our society. I was assaulted by some random drunk guy on the street and people just walked by and stared, no one helped. I'm inclined to think that if there's major stabbing going on, the likelihood of someone getting involved is about zero.
 
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