they had the story on the news here in detroit...not this much detail, though...gross...

Whew -- what a psycho!

For sure,on our news here Steph.

Imagine..this screw loose stabbed the kid repeatedly,then decap. him....can't begin to imagine this kind of violence

I read about it. How horrible, what on earth makes a person do something like that? And I feel bad for the witnesses, too, because no one should ever have to see anything like that in a normal life.

So Sad. The kid was just 22 years old. I looked at his pic and thought it coud have been my nephew!
Clearly the guy was mentally ill, but what causes this kind of illness. What happens in a persons mind to make them so violent?
It really is disturbing.

They interviewed a man who was on the bus at the time and he said that the person was stabbed at least 50 times before decap. him.

Another story that proves no one is safe anywhere!
What a scary thought.

My husband woke me up last night around midnight to tell me about this-horrible!

" Steve Colwell said a 40-year-old suspect is in custody and police were preparing to interview him. No charges have been laid."

Preparing to "interview" him???? No charges have been laid???
I have to say that I certainly don't mean to offend anyone, but I ascribe to what is in the Old Testament, Exodus 21:23-27...an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The Torah requires the court to "do to him as he had conspired to do to his brother". And be done with it.

He likely will be able to plead a temporary insanity case and get off lightly. It bothers me just to watch the news about this case, I can't even begin to think about what his parents, relatives and friends must feel right now.

It was on our South Texas news last night.

A very sick, disturbed person! How sad.

I heard about this on the radio last night. This is certainly one for the books...so bizarre, gruesome, and horrible. Extremely sad and frightening.

I saw it in the daily paper and you're right its horrible!!
Good gosh I dont understand someone being that unstable out in society! Drugs maybe?

We heard it on the news last night. Most Bizzare!

How helpless can you feel when someone is being Brutally Murdered before your eyes? I just can't imagine.

A true Hannibal Lecter.

Gayle

I saw it on CNN yesterday afternoon. What a nightmare to both happen and to witness!

My thought is....A bus full of people "Watched" this....they just sat there and watched????

Surely they could have stopped it after the first stabbing...but to let him do the rest of that??? I don't get it...

patti

No patti, please read the news stories again. People did not sit there and watch this!

I dont think anyone can say what they would or wouldnt do in a case like this. The guy is obviously a maniac and to have witnessed what these people witnessed is beyond horrific. I'm sure everyone would like to think that they'd jump in and help but until you're in that situation (God Forbid), you cant know how you'd react. It's a horrible thing no matter what and I cannot even comprehend the level of insanity this murderer must've had because clearly nobody in their right mind would do this kind of act.

wow! I hope this guy gets the axe. If I was the victims family.... I can't say it here.
What a horrible thing to do.

Unfortunately there is no capital punishment in Canada, so the most he can get is life in prison.

Crazy or not he needs to be locked up and never let out. This was so horrible, I couldn't finish reading it. I keep thinking it could happen to any of us at any time, anywhere! I am sick thinking about this.....can't imagine the effect this will have on the boy's family and the people who witnessed this. I feel so bad for all of them.

" Steve Colwell said a 40-year-old suspect is in custody and police were preparing to interview him. No charges have been laid."

That doesn't mean it won't happen. It just means that it's the middle of the night, and the cops & judges who will handle this hadn't gotten all the procedures of the legal system underway at the time the reporter was filing the story.

Because the reporter needed to answer the question "what has he been charged with?" but it's too soon to have an official answer.

This is just a sample of the reason I would never let my children travel alone, be it plane, bus etc. There are too many unbalanced people out there. I understand that this poor fellow was 22 and certainly old enough to travel alone but suppose it was a fourteen, eleven, or whatever age minor. No, I have to protect my children until the law says they can take care of themselves. If that had been my child that was attacked I would have been with them and all over the murderer like white on rice even if it meant my death. vique.

My thoughts were the same as Pattico's.

No patti, please read the news stories again. People did not sit there and watch this!

No, they fled the bus and barricaded the door to save themselves. Not one person tried to help the young man who was being attacked. It takes some time to decapitate someone. How do people live with themselves? That was someones son. Could have been one of ours. Too bad that trucker hadn't been on the bus. Bet he would of done something.

Before the rest of you say "nobody knows" what they would do in that situation let me say this. I know. I have been the one to stop and assist when I see things going down while people gawk and stare and do nothing. I have watched fights break out where no one picks up a cell phone. I have ALWAYS done something. I am so proud of my kids because I KNOW they would ALWAYS try to do something. I have watched my own DS come home bruised and battered after trying to defend someone weaker against 5 other guys, by himself. It is in our nature. When we see someone being victimized we go into help mode. You don't think about the danger to yourself until later. Some of you may call it stupid,risky, foolish, we call it right.

I could give countless other examples but this isn't about that. It's about the apathetic society we live in. People expect someone else to do something, they expect someone else to protect them.

People get assaulted in front of crowds every day. The people stand and stare and then go home and lock their doors and tsk-tsk about how dangerous the world had become. They need only look at themselves. They have handed the world over to the bad guys by their inaction.

We are still waiting to hear more on t.v. news reports here, but some radio stations have provided a few more details. Apparently since this happened at night, the lights on the bus had been dimmed so the passengers could sleep if they wished. Unfortunately, by the time the people surrounding the victim were aroused and aware of what was taking place, the victim had already been stabbed multiple times. Witnesses said that the victim had already lost consciousness and had been stabbed so many times that he had lost an extreme amount of blood from all the wounds. The killer could not be overtaken because he was wildly swinging a large "Rambo" type hunting knife in all directions and people weren't able to get near enough to take him down, or grab the victim. Even if the killer could have been subdued, they would only have prevented him from committing further atrocities to the victim, but his life could not have been saved at that point. Trying to disarm the killer who was attacking anyone who came near would only have resulted in more possible fatalities, so they decided the best plan would be to just vacate the bus, trap the killer inside and make sure he couldn't escape while they awaited the police. I know we'd all wish there was some way that poor victim could have been helped, but it seems that he was just too far gone before anyone even knew what was happening.

Sorry, I'd have been joining the others outside lining up for a crowbar while Wildchild became Victim #2.

I'd be right with you okwriter, although I'd probably get involved just enough to sucker punch wildchild and drag her kicking and screaming off the bus too.

This is not a bar or street fight, this was a sociopath killing someone... big, big difference...

On 9-11 a 38 year father of three did get involved. He and others on that plane did get involved saving countless others. I would rather die than live knowing that maybe just maybe I could have done something.

So the guy had a survival knife. It's not a freaking sword he could swing over his head. Are you telling me not one passenger had something to bean him with. A laptop,a boot/ something?

And we will never know if the young man could have been saved or not. Knives wounds are extremely bloody, even superficial ones.Without closer examination they couldn't possibly know it was too late.How convenient to rationalize it was too late. They ran and left that young man to die. I hope they can live with themselves. I and mine could not.

This goes right along with the so many rape cases,beatings and others abuses that people refuse to get involved in. Don't try to color it different. It isn't. This is exactly why an armed society is a safe society. Just one level headed person with a handgun could have prevented this young man's death.

I will be waiting to see further reports. I wonder how many people bother to even call 911.

If the autopsy reports will which probably be covered up show that the man died from the decapitation and not the other wounds these people have that young man's blood on their hands. The maniac couldn't have taken someone's head off while at the same time as fending off being rat-packed by a bunch of angry passengers. Cowards.

We heard you the first time, WC.
You get right on in there and duke it out while the rest of us "slugs of society" run for our lives.

The 911 incident was a lot different because those people probably knew they were going to die, so, of course they had nothing to risk and everything to gain by trying everything they could.

When I became a mother I didn't take that responsiblity lightly. I can't do something just because I want to. My first duty is to raise my kids, and for that I have to remain alive. I think your "I want to get involved and be a hero at all costs" mentality is actually somewhat selfish and just plain suicidal. I would bet there are people that depend on you and need you to stay alive. There comes a point where you can't just react and get involved even if you want to. I've never been one to just stand by, but you should realize there are situations where that is the best thing to do. You can't just react. Now, I would jump into a pond to rescue someone, but I know I'm not going to be able to over take a craze man of almost any size with any size knife. What do you think a trained cop on that bus without a weapon would have done?

I'm not sure what type of people you think ride buses but I doubt there were even many people on that bus that could have physically over taken that man. I really don't think it was a bus load of Arnold Schraznegger type people. You wouldn't really expect an elderly man or a woman with children to do step in. Plus, it's not like people had time to think. Yes, maybe they could have taken a rope from a bookbag and strangled him, or found some hairspray and aimed it right at him; but do you think you could even think rationally when all this was happening?

It's not about getting involved or not; it becomes about making the best of a very bad situation, and trying to keep in from escalating. What do you really think the odds would have been of you being able to save that guy (and him not being a vegetable) versus you just becoming another victim yourself? I think the chance that you too would die would be higher than most planned suicide attempts.

I'm the one that said "nobody knows" and maybe I should've said "most people don't know" because the majority of us, including wildchild, have not been witness to a brutal murder where a man was decapitated. What happened to that man was horrible and it's a shame that he couldn't be helped but I cannot critisize or condone the witnesses for running because I honestly can't say their state of mind at that point.

I did not post this news report so that people could debate about what they would or would not do in this situation. I was bringing awareness to something horrible that happens in our society. Please don't start debating.

Steph sometimes no matter what you post there are those that will turn it into some kind of debate.
This was a horrible thing that happened. I hope that I never witness anything even remotely similar.
And count me as one that doesn't know how I would respond. I'd like to think I would do something to help, but put me in the situation and there is no way I can predict what I would do. Somehow I don't see myself jumping into the middle of some maniac decapitating someone, no matter how much I wanted to help.

okwriter, completely agree with you!

Did you really expect to not start a debate by posting this? It should be no surprise. On the internet, everybody is Superman (and has a six-figure income, 60 room mansion, a trophy spouse, etc.). But I digress...

Steph,
I know you didn't intend to start anything, and I'm sorry it took such a nasty turn.
I am not sorry, however, that I stood up for myself and for the others who were called cowards.
I sure feel sorry for the ones who witnessed the attack. Their lives are forever changed.
Rita

very sad and horrible steph.

the young man's name was tim mclean and my heart goes out to his family and friends.

on facebook there is a tribute\condolence page for him

anne

Thank you Anne, my whole thought when I posted this was how horrible I felt for Tim McLean, his family & friends and those that witnessed this horrible, senseless, evil act.