PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Manitoba — A traveler aboard a Greyhound bus repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated his seatmate, witnesses and officials said Thursday.
A 40-year-old man was arrested after the slaying late Wednesday night aboard a bus en route from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Steve Colwell told reporters.
Police apprehended the suspect early Thursday as he tried to escape from the bus about three hours after the attack, Colwell said.
Authorities said a motive had not been determined. They declined to identify the suspect or the victim, and they provided few details about the attack.
But passenger Garnet Caton said the victim, who appeared to be about 19, was sleeping with headphones on when his seatmate suddenly began stabbing him as the bus traveled a desolate stretch of the Trans Canada Highway, a dozen miles from Portage La Prairie.
Caton, sitting just one seat in front of the two men, said he heard no exchanges between them prior to the violence.
“We heard this bloodcurdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly, like 40 or 50 times,” Caton said.
Caton said the driver stopped the bus and passengers scrambled off. He said the assailant appeared to be methodically cutting into the victim’s body.
“When he was attacking him, he was calm … like he was at the beach,” said Caton. “There was no rage or, or anything. He was just like a robot stabbing the guy.”
The bus driver, Caton and a trucker secured the door to prevent the man from fleeing.
The victim had been on the bus since Edmonton. Caton said the attacker boarded the bus about 80 miles west of Portage La Prairie.
