Greyhound Bus Beheader Vince Li Tried to Drive Bus Away, says Witness

Soon afterward, the driver boarded the bus to see if any passengers were trapped, and Mr. Alguire, his metal rod at the ready, followed him inside.

He said he saw a man hacking at a body with a knife. The dead passenger was later identified as Tim McLean, 22, a carnival worker heading home to Manitoba.

Then the man stood up with Mr. McLean's severed head in his hand, Mr. Alguire recalled. He said he didn't think his piece of metal was a match for that knife.

" In an interview yesterday from the trucking facility in Morden, Man., where he works, Mr. Alguire said the second bus driver left him alone with the attacker. Mr. Alguire decided to jump off the bus and slammed the door closed again.

"He walked up to the door and put the head right up to my face through the glass and waved the knife at me. He turned around and put the head down on the floor in front of me so I could see," Mr. Alguire said.

It was the man's dark eyes that struck him most. "They were empty. It was like staring into a black hole."

The man on the bus turned away, sat in the driver's seat and tried to start the bus, but the driver had disabled the engine.

When police arrived, including an armed tactical team, Mr. Alguire said he urged officers to shoot the attacker, but they dismissed him.

"He had just finished mutilating a guy. He just killed somebody. Put a stop to him, at least shoot out his knee or shoulder or something," he said.

"If they would have done something like that, Tim McLean's body wouldn't have been desecrated nearly as much as it was."

The suspect was eventually arrested after trying to jump out a window.