Originally Posted by CBCNEWS.ca

The man accused of stabbing a young Winnipeg man aboard a Greyhound bus delivered newspapers for several Edmonton publications and had worked at McDonald's, according to one of his employers.

Vince Weiguang Li, 40, worked for a contractor delivering the Edmonton Journal, the National Post and the Edmonton Sun, his boss Vincent Augert told CBC News Friday.

"I'm still kind of shocked and surprised, to be honest with you. He just never came across as the type of person that could do something like that. He was a nice guy," Augert said.

"He was there every day, he did a good job, was friendly and really, we had no problems with this individual at all."

Li worked for the distribution company for about 13 months, but left in April for a short period before returning to the job in June. The Edmonton man also worked at a McDonald's restaurant, according to Augert.

RCMP announced Friday morning that they had charged Li with second-degree murder. Police said he has no previous criminal record.

Police have not confirmed the identity of the man stabbed to death, and then beheaded according to witnesses, aboard a bus late Wednesday, but court documents name him as Timothy McLean. Friends have also confirmed 22-year-old McLean was the victim, describing him as bubbly and well-loved.

Augert said last he heard from Li three weeks ago, when the man said he needed a couple of days off to attend a job interview in Winnipeg at the end of July. When Augert called Li's cellphone on Tuesday to ask why he hadn't showed up for work, Augert spoke to a woman he said he believed was Li's wife.

"[She] mentioned that he'd had an emergency, he had to go out of town, and that she wasn't sure where he went and wasn't sure if he'd be back the following morning to deliver his newspapers," Augert told CBC News.

Li appeared for a hearing Friday at the Manitoba provincial court in Portage la Prairie around 10 a.m. CT without a lawyer and refused to speak to anyone.

He shuffled into the courthouse under the weight of heavy leg shackles, with his eyes focused on the floor. His right hand was heavily bandaged and there was visible bruising on his face.

The judge asked him twice whether he had a lawyer, but the accused just stared at the ground. When the judge asked whether Li was exercising his right to remain silent, he nodded his head.

The Crown asked for a psychiatric assessment, but the judge said the accused must see legal aid about getting a lawyer before proceeding further. Li was remanded into custody until his next appearance on Tuesday.

"It's early and I think the judge just wants to respect his rights to … speak to counsel, and he's giving him that opportunity," Crown prosecutor Larry Hodgson said outside court. "I don't think it will be very long that they'll allow him to do that."

Hodgson said if Li doesn't get his own lawyer, the court could appoint one or the case could proceed anyway.

Second-degree murder, under the Criminal Code, is generally unpremeditated murder. First-degree murder refers to a killing that is planned and deliberate, but also when death is caused by sexual assault, kidnapping, forcible confinement or hijacking an airplane.
McLean 'missed dearly'

In an e-mail to CBC News, friend Jossie Kehler wrote that McLean was loved by everyone, had a bubbly personality and was a ladies' man.

"He has a lot of friends and they all are very upset he's gone, and they would like to say they miss him and he will always be in their hearts," she wrote.

"People say no one's perfect, but Tim, he was," she wrote. "He did nothing bad to anyone."

Thousands of Facebook users flocked Friday to a tribute group titled 'RIP Tim McLean' set up overnight to send their condolences to family and friends as well as express their shock at the grisly story that made international headlines.

"You are loved and you will be missed dearly!" the site description read.

Friends say McLean had taken a job with the Red River Exhibition and then went to work in Edmonton, but had decided to return home.

On McLean's MySpace page, under the name JoKAwiLd, he describes himself as five-foot-five, weighing about 125 pounds.

Witnesses initially described the attacker as a hulking man over six feet tall who appeared to weigh more than 200 pounds — but in court on Friday, Li appeared to be about five-foot-eight or -nine, with a stocky build.

Father trying to reach wife

McLean's father, Tim McLean Sr., told CBC News on Thursday night that he was in the process of trying to get confirmation from the police that his son was, in fact, the victim.

He said he was also trying to reach his wife, who is on an Alaskan cruise until next week.

The father said his son had sent him a text message around 7:30 p.m. as the bus was leaving Brandon, the last leg of its journey, to ask whether he could come home for the night.

McLean Sr. told his son that of course he could come home. That was the last contact they had.

The RCMP would not confirm reports the victim was beheaded, saying only that a stabbing took place around 8:30 p.m. CT on an eastbound Greyhound bus on the Trans-Canada Highway about 20 kilometres west of Portage la Prairie.

An autopsy was scheduled for Friday at the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre, and police were waiting for the results before deciding, with input from the family, whether to make the victim's name public.

"The RCMP are mindful of the range of emotions being experienced by the family of the deceased over the loss of their loved one in such a horrific incident. Our thoughts are with them," the RCMP said in a statement.
Victim sleeping when attack began

Witnesses said the victim got on the bus in Edmonton, while his attacker came aboard in Brandon and sat away from the victim toward the front of the bus, they said. After a short cigarette break, however, the attacker moved his belongings and chose a seat beside the young man.

Garnet Caton, who was sitting in the seat in front of the victim, said the young man was sleeping with his headphones on when he was attacked.

Caton said he heard a "blood-curdling scream" and turned around to see the attacker holding a large hunting knife and repeatedly stabbing the victim.

"He must have stabbed him 50 times or 60 times," said Caton, who jumped out of his seat when he realized what was happening and began ushering passengers to the front of the bus.

Caton, the driver and a trucker who had stopped at the scene later boarded the vehicle to see whether the victim was still alive. At that point, Caton said, the suspect was beheading the victim.

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 tried to drive the bus away, the driver disabled the vehicle, Caton said.

RCMP crisis negotiators communicated with the suspect for several hours while he was on the bus. Around 1:30 a.m., he attempted to jump from a bus window and was subdued and arrested, RCMP said.

Originally Posted by Winnipeg Free Press

Members of a notorious U.S. church that's been branded a hate group are coming to Winnipeg to protest at the funeral of Tim McLean Saturday.

A spokeswoman for the Westboro Baptist Church -- which is known for staging protests at funerals of American soldiers who have died in Iraq -- said seven members will picket outside the Westwood Community Church Saturday to let Canadians know that "God hates you, and it's because of your rebellion against his word that this child is dead."

Shirley Phelps-Roper, the daughter of Fred Phelps who heads the church in Topeka, Kansas, said the murder of Tim McLean was God's response to Canadian policies that allow homosexuality, abortion and adultery.

"Is it legal to have abortions up there? They are teaching you that God is a big fat liar (by making sins legal)," she said. "God sent that guy to do it."

Tim Dedelly, McLean's stepfather, declined to comment on the church's planned protest but said he had notified the police.

The horrifying murder of Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus just west of Portage la Prairie grabbed international headlines last week.

Allan Mailloux, youth pastor for the Bethel Baptist Church in Winnipeg, said he was appalled that the Westboro church would consider appearing at McLean's funeral.

"That is so dishonouring to Tim McLean's family. It's a slap in the face," he said "The main purpose in life is to love God and to love one another. I don't know how this falls into that definition."

Over the past few years, members of the Westboro Baptist Church - almost all of whom are blood relatives - have upset Americans coast-to-coast by showing up at the funerals of U.S. soldiers carrying large "God Hates America" signs. The church claims U.S. soldiers are killed to punish the country for its "disobedience to God and filthy manner of life." Last January, they picketed the funeral of Hollywood actor Heath Ledger because he played a homosexual character in the movie Brokeback Mountain.

The church is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Phelps-Roper said the church had already scheduled protests for this week in Red Deer, Alta., and Toronto, Ont., when they received news of the Greyhound bus massacre.

"Lo and behold, we were going to Canada and God offered us a gift. The curse of God was put upon you (Canada) when that young man's head was cut off," she said.

Mailloux said the Phelps-Roper's retributive beliefs are not reflective of Christian faith.

"That runs absolutely contrary to what is taught in the Bible," he said. "God loves all people, that is 100 per cent true. God will love us no matter how far from we stray from things. Who are they to judge?"

Originally Posted by The_Jazz

That's the thing about the First Amendment - it gives every idiot a right to say their piece. I just chose to see them as a parody of themselves.

Originally Posted by RetroGunslinger

How are they not dead yet?

Originally Posted by RetroGunslinger

How are they not dead yet?

Originally Posted by Cynthetiq

Yep. That's why I think it's great that they exist.

I will savor the moment when they have to actually defend their nemesis' right to free speech like Al Sharpton did for the KKK when they wanted to march in NYC.

Originally Posted by jorgelito

Not to threadjack but did Al Sharpton really do this?

Originally Posted by CBC

Members of a fundamentalist American church group planning to stage a protest at the funeral for a Winnipeg man brutally killed on a Greyhound bus have managed to enter Canada, a spokeswoman told CBC News on Friday.

Canadian border guards are under orders to prevent members of the Westboro Baptist Church, a controversial Kansas-based sect, from entering the country.

The group intends to picket the funeral of 22-year-old Tim McLean to tell Canadians his slaying on July 30 was God's response to Canadian policies enabling abortion, homosexuality and divorce and remarriage.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's office sent an alert to border patrol to "look out" for people with signs and pamphlets consistent with the messages that the church promotes and to keep them out of the country.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of church founder Fred Phelps, said a group of church members was turned away from a border crossing at Niagara Falls, but a small group did manage to get into Manitoba overnight.

"They were looking for picket signs and they were looking for leaflets. Well, we don't do leaflets, and the picket signs, you know, Fed Ex ships them overnight," she said.

However, Phelps-Roper said the reaction the group has raised from some police and public officials has her questioning whether the planned protest will go ahead.

"The question to my mind [is] whether or not we ought to get them the heck out of that country, because that's some crazy stuff when you've got your officials talking like they are in a back-alley brawl and not government officials who took an oath to obey the law and so forth."

Phelps-Roper said she would advise church members not to go ahead with the protest if there is a concern they might be arrested or harmed.
Counter-protest planned

A counter-protest against the church's picket plans was launched on the social networking site Facebook on Thursday.

More than 700 people have since joined the group; postings indicate they plan to form a "human wall" around the family to shield them from the church protest, if it takes place.

Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin said the group should be "sent packing," and should not try to show up in Winnipeg "for their own safety."

"We're not going to allow these people to compound the tragedy of the McLean family loss, and Canadians simply won't tolerate these lunatics disrupting what should be a respectful service," he told CBC News on Friday.

"Your freedom to swing your arm in the air ends when it touches the end of my nose," he added. "What these people were going to do was hurtful, harmful and disruptive to the peace, order and good government that we guarantee to our citizens, so they have no place in this country."
Family in shock, requests privacy

Meanwhile, Tim McLean's mother released a short public statement Friday morning, saying the family is in "complete shock at the horrifying loss of our loved one."

Carol deDelley expressed frustration that some media outlets have not identified McLean's family members properly; the statement identifies Tim's parents and step-parents and the six siblings in his blended families.

DeDelley asked for privacy during the family's time of mourning.

Originally Posted by ngdawg

Maybe because those of us who find them so sickening are a better class of people who wouldn't stoop to that level. Think it, yea, but not go there....

Originally Posted by ngdawg

Maybe because those of us who find them so sickening are a better class of people who wouldn't stoop to that level. Think it, yea, but not go there....

Originally Posted by Willravel

Excommunicate. And I suspect that there would be a concern that excommunication by whatever denomination of Baptism they belong to would be viewed by more radical members as hypocrisy at the very least and something no longer worth their sizable donations in reality. Many of the more fundamentalist Baptist perishes do teach a strict literalistic view of things like homosexuality and though I wish it weren't so, they do have a say.

So the short answer is no, that probably won't happen. And even if it did, they'd make an even more extremist church and keep doing it.

Originally Posted by Miss Mango

I guess they have nothing better to do.....

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

For the last time:

• God made gays, lesbians, the transgendered, and bisexuals!
• There is no hell! Ask the Jews, God's chosen people (who know better).
• The entertainment industry is supposed to be potty-mouthed!
• And for the love of Jesus, His mother, and everything holy, God doesn't hate; God is love!

Originally Posted by ItWasMe

Thanks, my mind was drawing a blank for the correct word.

My late night train of thought was aimed at disbanding them by slowly stripping away protections they might have as a religious organization. If they could be labelled a hate group or gang, and then maybe they could be legally dealt with differently. My train is probably on the wrong track.

Trying to remember how we Oregonians finally got rid of that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ashram back in the 80's.

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

For the last time:

• God made gays, lesbians, the transgendered, and bisexuals!
• There is no hell! Ask the Jews, God's chosen people (who know better).
• The entertainment industry is supposed to be potty-mouthed!
• And for the love of Jesus, His mother, and everything holy, God doesn't hate; God is love!