Killing of Tim McLean

Vincent (Cider Press, 2015), a book-length poem by American poet Joseph Fasano, is a fictionalized work based loosely on the event.

Li's trial commenced on March 3, 2009, with Li pleading not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder. This means he accepted that the offence occurred but claimed that he was unable to form the necessary mental element or mens rea. The psychiatrist said that Li performed the attack because he was hearing voices he believed were from God, telling him to destroy the demon sitting beside him, or he would be killed himself. The presiding judge, John Scurfield, accepted the diagnosis, and ruled that Li was not criminally responsible for the killing. Li was remanded to the Selkirk Mental Health Centre.

The killing of Tim McLean occurred on the evening of 30 July 2008. McLean, a 22-year-old Canadian man, was stabbed, beheaded, and cannibalized while riding a Greyhound Canada bus along the Trans-Canada Highway, about 30 km (19 mi) west of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. On 5 March 2009, his killer, a 40-year-old Vince Li, was found not criminally responsible for murder and remanded to a high-security mental health facility in Selkirk, Manitoba, where he was detained until his release on 8 May 2015.

On July 30, 2008, Tim McLean, a carnival barker, was returning home to Winnipeg after working at a fair in Edmonton. He departed Edmonton on board Greyhound bus 1170 to Winnipeg, via the Yellowhead Highway through Saskatchewan. He sat at the rear, one row ahead of the toilet. At 6:55 p.m., the bus departed from a stop in Erickson, Manitoba, with a new passenger, Vince Weiguang Li. Li, described as a tall man in his 40s, with a shaved head and sunglasses, originally sat near the front of the bus, but moved to sit next to McLean following a scheduled rest stop. McLean "barely acknowledged" Li, then fell asleep against the window pane, headphones covering his ears.

On July 31, 2008, at 1:30 a.m., the suspect attempted to escape from the bus by breaking through a window. The RCMP arrested Li soon afterward. He was shot with a Taser twice, handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser. Parts of the victim's body, placed in plastic bags, were retrieved from the bus, while his ear, nose and tongue were found in Li's pockets. The victim's eyes and a part of his heart were never recovered and are presumed to have been eaten by Li.

Li first moved to Edmonton in 2006, abruptly leaving his wife alone in Winnipeg until she joined him later. His jobs included service at a Wal-Mart, at a McDonald's restaurant, and newspaper delivery. His delivery boss, Vincent Augert, described Li as reliable, hard-working and not showing any signs of trouble.

"I think he would occasionally feel frustrated with not being able to communicate or understand," Castor told CTV Winnipeg. "But we have very patient staff members and he seemed to respond well." Castor also said Li did not show any signs of anger issues or any other trouble before he quit in the spring of 2005. He worked as a forklift operator in Winnipeg while his wife worked as a waitress.

Timothy Richard "Tim" McLean Jr., was born on October 3, 1985, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He grew up both in Winnipeg and in Elie, Manitoba. He was 22 years old when he was killed on July 30, 2008. At the time of his death, McLean had been working as a carnival worker, specifically a carnival barker in Edmonton, Alberta. On December 21, 2008, five months after McLean’s death, his son was born.

Vincent Weiguang "Vince" Li (Chinese: 李伟光; pinyin: Lǐ Wěiguāng) was born in Dandong, Liaoning, on April 30, 1968. In 1992, Li graduated from Wuhan Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree in computing. From 1994 to 1998, Li worked in Beijing as a computer software engineer. Li immigrated to Canada on June 11, 2001 (though some newspapers mistakenly reported 2004), and became a Canadian citizen on November 7, 2006. Psychiatrist Stanley Yaren, who later examined Li, said Li was hospitalized in 2003 or 2004 after an incident with the Ontario Provincial Police.