Young Man Beheaded On Greyhound Bus Laid To Rest

Family and friends gathered Saturday to say goodbye to a young man who was stabbed and beheaded in a seemingly random attack aboard a Greyhound bus over a week ago.
  
About 600 people packed a Winnipeg church for the funeral of 22-year-old Tim McLean.
  
His uncle, Alex McLean, told them that his nephew was “friendly, kind, sweet and caring.”
  
Tim McLean, a travelling carnival worker, loved making new friends on his many journeys, said his uncle.
  
But “he never left behind the ones he made in high school,” McLean said. “His love of his friends was easy to see”.
  
McLean also remembered his nephew’s tremendous sense of humour, recalling that the last time he saw him he was shirtless and flexing his muscles.
  
“That was your trademark,” Alex McLean said.
  
Tim McLean was killed late last month as he dozed on a Greyhound bus. Witnesses have said that he was stabbed repeatedly by his seatmate before he was decapitated and his body carved up.
  
Vince Weiguang Li, 40, was taken into custody by police after a standoff on the bus and charged with second-degree murder. He has been ordered by a judge to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
  
A police report read in court said the accused, who was armed with a knife and a pair of scissors, carried McLean’s head back and forth on the bus, and was seen eating pieces of the victim’s flesh.
  
The story of McLean’s death has captured international attention, appearing extensively in foreign publications.
  
Several groups have also sought to use the publicity to shine light on their own causes.
  
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, tried to run a graphic newspaper ad comparing the beheading to the treatment of animals by the meat industry.
  
Members of a fanatical American church had also announced plans to travel north to protest at McLean’s funeral, saying his slaying was God’s response to Canadian policies enabling abortion, homosexuality and adultery.
  
There was no sign of the group shortly before the funeral began, although several hundred counter-protesters were ready for them, saying they wanted to ensure the group was kept away from McLean’s family.
  
McLean grew up in Winnipeg and Elie, Man., surrounded by “more family than he could shake a stick at,” according to his obituary.
  
Friends have spoken about how much he meant to so many people, and tens of thousands of people have joined a Facebook group set up in his memory.
  
McLean’s mother released a statement Friday asking for media to respect the family’s privacy “during our time of mourning.”
  
Before the service began, John Jorgensen, 19, who lived in the same west Winnipeg neighbourhood as McLean, remembered him as an “uplifting, positive guy.”
  
“If you were in a bad mood, he would make you in a great mood,” said Jorgensen.
  
Tim “could never stand still, there was a whole world to see and everywhere he went, he brought light and joy,” reads the obituary.
  
“From your first breath you were loved beyond imagination, and although you were taken from us too quickly, we will never say goodbye, but for now see you later.”

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