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Man throws tantrum on Greyhound bus to Winnipeg
Man decapitates passenger aboard Greyhound bus in Manitoba: witness
Bus en route to Winnipeg from Edmonton; story contains graphic details
Last Updated: Thursday, July 31, 2008 | 8:35 AM ET Comments159Recommend311CBC News
A passenger repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated another person aboard a Greyhound bus travelling through Manitoba overnight, a witness said Thursday.
Police officers were examining the Greyhound bus after a man repeatedly stabbed another passenger. (CBC)Police would not confirm the reports, only saying that a "major incident" took place around 9 p.m. Wednesday evening in the bus as it drove along the Trans-Canada Highway west of Portage la Prairie en route to Winnipeg from Edmonton.
The killing took place on the Trans-Canada about 18 kilometres west of Portage la Prairie, a city about 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg. A man is in police custody.
Passenger Garnet Caton told CBC News on Thursday that the attacker had been sitting beside the victim, who was sleeping with his headphones on.
Caton said he heard a "blood-curdling scream" and saw the man holding a large "Rambo" hunting knife above the victim, "continually stabbing him in the chest area," he said.
"He must have stabbed him 50 times or 60 times," said Caton.
About 37 panicked passengers and the bus driver fled the bus. "The whole time, the attacker was over top of the victim. He is continually cutting him. I think the victim was gone at that point," Caton said.
Caton said the attacker appeared "totally normal" earlier in the journey after boarding around Brandon, and chatted with a young lady as he smoked a cigarette during a break.
But when he got back on the bus, he moved his belongings from the front to a seat beside the victim in the back and about 20 minutes later began attacking the man, said Caton. "He didn't say anything to the victim at all," said Caton.
Once the bus pulled over and passengers fled, Caton, the driver and a trucker who 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.
When the attacker began fiddling with buttons and trying to drive the bus, Caton says the driver disabled the vehicle.
"While we were watching the door, he calmly walks up to the front with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us," said Caton.
Caton described the attacker as surprisingly calm. "It was like he was at the beach or something. There was no rage in him. He wasn't swearing or cursing or anything. It was just like he was a robot or something."
Police cruisers arrived about 10 minutes later, he estimates, and began directing passengers to school buses to take them to a hotel in Brandon. The attacker picked up the head.
"While we were waiting on the side of the road, he was taunting the police with the head in his hand," said Caton.
A six-year-old and other children were among the passengers who saw the gruesome incident unfold, said Caton.
"It was pretty traumatic," he said, adding that some passengers said they have been unable to sleep or eat since it happened.
A chaplain and crisis team were on hand to counsel passengers at the hotel, he said.
Officers were still at the scene early Thursday morning and brought portable search lights to examine the bus, the CBC's Sean Kavanagh reported. Traffic was being rerouted to a side road.
Abby Wambaugh, media relations spokeswoman for Greyhound Canada, said there were 37 passengers and a driver aboard the bus.
She would not comment on what happened on the bus.
"I don't want to compromise the investigation, so any details need to be confirmed by the police," she said.
Last edited by Spin Laden on Aug-04-2008 at 15:53
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