However, it is now public record and forms part of a very important aspect of this case. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
Vince Weiguang Li was born in Dandong China on 30 April, 1968. He graduated from the University of Wuhan Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science (Computers) in 1992. Mr. Li immigrated to Canada in 2001, and became a citizen in 2005. He graduated from CDI College (Computer Programming) in 2002.
He was divorced from his wife Ana in 2006. During his time in Canada, he held a number of menial jobs including caretaking in a church, assistant manager at McDonalds, sales assistant in the parts department at Canadian Tire, and newspaper carrier. He was unable to obtain employment in his field, and had periods of unemployment, although at other times held two jobs at the same time.
Mr. Li had few friends, those he had describe him as having mental problems, but never knew him to be violent.
At approximately 12:30 am on Tuesday, 29 July 2008, Mr. Li boarded a Greyhound bus in Edmonton, Alberta heading to Thunder Bay, via Winnipeg. He purchased his ticket under the name of Wong Pent. He did not notify his ex-wife that he was leaving, nor what his destination was. He did leave her a note stating: “I’m gone, don’t look for me, I wish you were happy.”
Mr. Li got off the bus in Erickson, Manitoba at 5:55 pm on 29 July 2008, although the bus driver tried to advise him that it was not his stop. There was insufficient time to re-issue his ticket, as per the statement of bus driver Patrick Delbridge, attached as Appendix 2. He spent 24 hours in Erickson, as there is only one bus per day stopping in that community. During that time he disposed of most of his personal assets by either selling them or burning them.
At approximately 12:30 am on Wednesday, 30 July 2008, Tim McLean (born 03 October 1985) boarded Greyhound bus 1170 in Edmonton, Alberta, to return home to Winnipeg at the conclusion of summer employment on the carnival circuit.
Mr. Li boarded Greyhound bus 1170 for Winnipeg on 30 July 2008 at 5:55 pm at Erickson, Manitoba.
Tim McLean and Vince Li were not known to each other. They did not appear to have any interaction with each other on board the bus or at any of the scheduled bus stops.
Tim McLean got off the bus for a cigarette break, between Brandon and Portage la Prairie. After he returned to his seat, Mr. Li moved to the back of the bus and sat beside Tim McLean. The two did not appear to converse.
At approximately 8:30 pm on Wednesday, 30 July 2008, when Greyhound bus 1170 was approximately 18 kilometers west of Portage la Prairie on the TransCanada Highway, Mr. Li began to repeatedly stab Tim McLean, for no apparent reason.
Tim McLean struggled and tried to escape, as evidenced by a number of defensive wounds. He was unsuccessful and eventually either fell or was thrown to the floor of the bus. Due to his location at the back of the bus and adjacent to a window, the seats ahead of him were a barrier to escape.
Mr. Li was pre-occupied with Tim McLean, and continued to stab him as he lay on the floor. He did not pay any attention to the other passengers as the bus was vacated. He appeared oblivious to the demands of bus driver Bruce Martin that he stop what he was doing. Several persons indicate that after everyone had vacated the bus, Mr. Li came to the front of the bus and tried to exit. The bus driver was able to close the door on Mr. Li’s arm, with the bloody knife extended outside of the bus.
Mr. Li was able to pull his arm back into the bus, and returned to the rear of the bus, where he defiled the body of Tim McLean. Mr. Martin immediately called 911, once everyone was safely off his bus, and the bus door was closed.
As Greyhound bus 1170 pulled onto the shoulder, Bernie Scyrup, driver of a second Greyhound bus that was following Greyhound bus 1170 to carry the passenger overload, realized that there was something unusual in the fashion that Mr. Martin pulled over and stopped his bus. Mr. Scyrup stopped his bus on the shoulder in front of Greyhound bus 1170.
Mr. Scyrup attended to Greyhound bus 1170, and observed that Mr. Li was at the back of the bus. Mr. Scyrup entered the bus and called out to Mr. Li, as Mr. Li continued to stab the body of Tim McLean. Mr. Li responded by stating “get emergency.”
As Mr. Li repeatedly looked at Mr. Scyrup, Mr. Scyrup realized that Mr. Li was severing the head of Tim McLean. Mr. Scyrup got off the bus, as he realized that Tim McLean was dead and could not be helped.
Mr. Li attended to the front of the bus, He motioned that he wished to be let off the bus. The door to the bus was not opened, and was barricaded or protected by a truck driver who pulled over to assist, and was armed with a snipe bar. Upon RCMP arrival, a police vehicle was parked against the doors to the bus, to prevent Mr. Li from exiting.
At one point Mr. Li looked at the controls, and witnesses believed he was trying to start the bus. Rather, Mr. Li was trying to open the door so that he could exit the bus. Mr. Scyrup cut the power to the bus. Mr. Li then returned to the back of the bus and continued to mutilate the body of Tim McLean.
(RCMP) Cpl. Harder attempted to communicate with Mr. Li, and asked him to drop the knife out of a small window located in the bathroom at the rear of the bus. Mr. Li’s only response was some unintelligible words, plus words to the effect that he had to stay on the bus forever. As the officers watched, Mr. Li continued to mutilate both the body and the head/face of Tim McLean, using both a buck knife and a pair of scissors.
Various officers noted that he continued to mutilate the body and head of Tim McLean. Cst. Brown and Cpl. G. Smith noted that Mr. Li appeared to smell, and then eat parts of Tim McLean’s flesh. He also appeared to lick blood from his fingers and hands. Mr. Li also continued to carry Tim McLean’s internal organs and various body parts throughout the bus, later returning to bag them in white plastic garbage bags. He also carried the head of Tim McLean from time to time.
At approximately 1:20 am on 31 July 2008, Mr. Li broke open a window on the bus, threw out some personal belongings, a knife and a pair of scissors. He then jumped out of the bus, head first, landing on top of the knife. RCMP members immediately tried to apprehend him. He was struggling, screaming, and refused to surrender his hands. Police stunned him with a Taser on several occasions before he surrendered his hands and could be handcuffed and taken to a police vehicle.
Found in Mr. Li’s pants pocket was a plastic bag containing Tim McLean’s ear, nose, and tongue.
Mr. Li was formally arrested.
Mr. Li was taken to the Portage General Hospital for treatment regarding a gash on his right hand and a cut to his head behind his right ear.
A variety of Tim McLean’s body parts and organs were found throughout the bus.
The tip of the blade was located in the skull of Tim McLean in the forehead area just above the inner aspect of the right eyebrow.
The autopsy reveals that the cause of death of Tim McLean was multiple stab wounds.
The body of Tim McLean showed evidence of damage in excess of 100 areas, ranging from abrasions to a large gaping wound of the chest.
The eyes were missing and not recovered.
The internal organs were recovered, in plastic bags, in 4 separate areas of the bus.
Dr. Littman, the pathologist, estimates that one third of the heart of Tim McLean was never recovered and it is presumed that Mr. Li ate it. Further, Tim McLean’s eyes were never recovered, and also are presumed to have been eaten.
Mr. Li denies eating the flesh of Tim McLean.
Poor Tim ..this is horrendous. All my love and support to Tim family. Also thinking about the poor people that were on the bus and the RCMP and emergency people. No one should have to witness something as horrible as this. Yes Li is sick but even someone like Ted Bundy who killed and ate many persons was not considered “mentally ill” . That’s in the USA. And here in Canada someone like that can be released ?! There was another case of murder by a Chinese man in Toronto and I was reading about that case and learned that someone who still has the Chinese nationality can be send back there. I am sure they don’t have the same laws that we have here in Canada. Surely someone who is so deranged should never be allowed to walk the streets again! There is no guarantee that he will not snap again.
Anyone who thinks li is also a victim should pray your loved ones never meet others like him. If they do, I would love to hear you spout your bleeding heart liberal crap.
First my sincere condolences and utmost support and respect to Tim’s family for having to continue to endure our systems failure to apply the correct form of justice to a case such as this, it seems to have failed from the start.
It would seem our Immigration System failed and more in-depth screening for immigrants should be done in light of the possibility of allowing people with serious illness’s or possible dangerous and violent tendencies into Canada. In this case the very people did the correct thing by containing this beast, the Police could not do more than what they did. The justice system failed from that point on, they should have taken the correct and human action for both families by removing this “beyond disturbed person” from existence, of course we do not have the death penalty so that route wasn’t possible or even thought as a possibility.
It is beyond belief and comprehension that this person will be released back into our society, we need to prevent this from happening, why in Canada is this person to be released and why was he absolved of the actual murder!! In the defense of Tim Mclean:
“The case of James Beck “Jim” Gordon:
On June 3, 1983, he attacked his 72-year-old mother, Osa Marie Gordon, with a hammer before fatally stabbing her with a butcher knife; he claimed that a voice told him to kill her. Only after his arrest for murder was Gordon properly diagnosed with schizophrenia. At his trial, the court accepted that he had acute schizophrenia, but he was not allowed to use an insanity defense because of changes to California law due to the Insanity Defense Reform Act, dismissed by Lawrence Z. Freedman as “ineffective”. On July 10, 1984, Gordon was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. He was first eligible for parole in 1992, but parole has been denied several times. At a 2005 hearing, he claimed his mother was still alive. In 2014, he declined to attend his hearing and was denied parole until at least 2018. A Los Angeles deputy district attorney stated at the hearing that he was still “seriously psychologically incapacitated” and “a danger when he is not taking his medication”. As of 2015, he is serving his sentence at the California Medical Facility, a medical and psychiatric prison in Vacaville, California.”
How can we as a society accept and release a person who has without a doubt committed this horrendous crime as if he should be forgiven because of his illness!!! If the people who undoubtedly believe he shall not ever commit another act of violence while taking “or not” his medication then let them take the onus upon themselves to accommodate and institute this mans life upon their lives and god forbid if they are wrong then it will be they and their loved ones who pay the ultimate price for their error and not the the innocent citizens among us, to set this man free will be another error by our government.
If the bus driver let that pysco out of the bus in the first place, instead of catching his arm in the door, Tim’s body would still have been intact. All the dismembering of that poor soul would never have happened.
but if he had let li out, then others would be dead and li would have escaped.
You must be fucking stupid. Yeah go ahead and let the sick fuck out of the bus so he can possibly kill more innocent people. Not to mention, he had a hunting knife in his hand..think before you post, assclown.
First and foremost my deepest sympathy goes to Tims family. That being said to say Greyhound is responsible is ridiculous! They had nothing to do with the attack, we need to start holding the people responsible who did the crime not the bus company who provided the service they were paid for! So because the courts messed up we need to move the blame?? No we need to address why people get to use the “I went crazy” excuse! The RCMP on the other hand need to be re-educated on how to deal with extreme situations like this. If they had let some freak eat my sons remains I would be irate also!
They are though, they failed to make a system that checks to see if someone has a weapon or not, and Vince is responsible too, they also are responsible for further trauma on Tim’s family by adding a fucking ad about bus rage or some shit and if you’re transportation system doesn’t have a bag check then you are responsible for having something like this so preventable happen.
They were responsible though, if your transportation system doesn’t have a security check to make sure nobody has a ogre hunting knife in their bag maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
I wonder too, why tear gas or some such incapacitating strategy wasn’t even attempted.
It does matter that Tim’s body was subjected to such barbarism. Perished or living, it does matter.
I won’t forget you Tim McLean.
In the good old U.S.A, that sick canible would be locked up for life. I wonder if there is any truth that he is living in ft. Francis at the nugget motel owned by his brother?. I read this on the petition to lock him up. Canadian law is just as sick as this canible.
this is absolutely devastating. its so disappointing and disgusting that this Mr Li character was not charged with anything. I wish the police would have shot him dead. It is appalling to me how “GOD” would tell someone to EAT another person! Mentally sane or not, this man should be in jail at the LEAST! Mr. Li is guilty and he should not be permitted to live after taking such a precious life.
With regard to criticizing the RCMP :
Quotes from “Glen”:
“I find it strange that certain people are criticizing the police’s actions in this case”
“but it is not the police’s function to execute people.”
“they do not have the liberty to let their personal feelings dictate their actions”
Well, remeber the Taser incidents in B.C.? I rest my case.
I am saddened to see a world renowned police force being brought down by some members of that force. The truth is that this happens in every force, and personally I feel that the recruitment of ex military into their ranks brings a police force closer to paramilitary force than law enforcement body.Policing and military are two completely different mentalaties and disciplines. Remember, Policing is by CONSENT of the people,paid for by the TAXES of the people and not an entity in its own right.
Yes, he WAS dead, but if you were his father wouldn’t you have wanted that animal disabled or killed BEFORE he ate your son’s eyes??
I find it strange that certain people are criticizing the police’s actions in this case. Mr. Mclean was dead. No action on the part of the police could bring back Mr. McLean. No doubt the police found the situation as horible as everyone else but they do not have the liberty to let their personal feelings dictate their actions. So under the circumstances, there job was to arrest Mr. Li using only the amount of force as necessary.The police did the right thing, if they had rushed the bus, they may have ended up having to shoot Li. I realize for some people they would not have a problem with this but it is not the police’s function to execute people. I suspect the same people that are criticizing the police now would be criticizing the police had the police shoot Li. I find that to be a common characteristic of arm chair quarterbacks.
A friend worked at the facility that housed Li. I can’t say much due to confidentially & don’t want to get person in trouble. But the RCMP should have done the world a favour & shot him dead.
Idk about you but some ppl want their child to have an open funeral and in once piece 🤷♀️ and also they shoulda knocked him out with tear gas by shooting the windows, or just rushing in to arrest him and if he charges at them then shoot him in the leg.
One more thing, why did no one use the fire extinguisher that I am surely was near the bus driver? Spray that bastard, then knock him out with the cylinder.
Greyhound needs to be held accountable for the security of future passengers.
Judge & jury, there are 2 people on the bus, Tim & the monster, you draw your conclusions if you are the police. But I guess if you are the RCMP you only need to have a stapler in your hand.
While many people may share your perspective, I am not sure we want the police being both judge and jury.
I would agree with you Gloria, that the present system does tend to lead to frustration, as many people do believe that justice is not being done.
Certainly, there are many people purporting that Li is as much a victim as Tim. For most people, this is a difficult argument to grasp, let alone refute…. “really”… as much a victim as Tim?
I can’t believe the people of Winnipeg is allowing this to happen. RCMP should have shot him dead right there and then. I am disgusted in our RCMP and feel they are to blame for a lot that happened to the body.
In todays crime we need the death penalty back and change the laws when it comes to these insane crimes. I am very disappointed in Winnipegers for not doing more and make these changes happen.