Beheading Raises Bus Security Concerns

August 6, 2008— -- The beheading of a 22-year-old passenger on a Greyhound bus in Canada last week has sparked new questions about the lack of procedure to ensure bus security and safety.

The attack incited calls for tightened security on Canadian buses, but passenger screening remains limited even inside the United States.

"We ought to be able to figure out a way of telling if anybody is carrying a deadly weapon and just not allow them to get on buses," said Bruce Hamilton, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1700 and a Greyhound bus driver for 36 years.

But there was no such screening when Tim McLean boarded a bus in Winnipeg, Manitoba last week. Instead, while he sleeping was on board the bus traveling from Edmonton, Alberta, a fellow passenger, 40-year-old Vince Weiguang Li, allegedly stabbed and beheaded McLean with a large weapon, according to news reports. As Li walked up and down the aisle with McLean's head in hand, other passengers escaped, they told Canadian news outlets.

"The attacker was standing up right over top of the guy with a large hunting knife – a survival, Rambo knife – holding the guy and continually stabbing him, stabbing him, stabbing him in the chest area," passenger Garnet Caton told CBC Television. Li has since been charged with second-degree murder.

Greyhound spokesperson Abby Wambaugh said that while last week's incident is very tragic, it was an "isolated incident." And, she noted, since 2003, the company has invested $23 million -- more than two-thirds from a Transportation Security Administration grant -- instituting wanding and baggage checks in randomly chosen U.S. locations.

"The safety of our employees and customers is our biggest concern," Wambaugh said.

Still, she acknowledged, security is not an issue that's been solved.

While there is no agency that keeps track of attacks on buses, incidents continue to occur yearly aboard urban and intercity buses across the country. For instance, in June, a 19-year-old man was critically injured after being shot on a public bus in southeast Washington, and, in April, a 16-year-old was robbed at knifepoint riding a city bus in Birmingham.