On July 30, 2008, 22-year-old Tim McLean was riding a bus from Alberta to Manitoba (Canada) with several other passengers. He sat comfortably and put on his headphones to listen to music and enjoy the trip. Next to him sat a 44-year-old man of Chinese origin named Vince Weiguang Li. What was about to happen seemed like something out of a nightmare.

McLean was almost asleep when Vince Li stood up and pulled a sharp knife and a pair of scissors from his clothes. He lunged at the young man and, without explanation, began stabbing him in the chest. Hearing the desperate cries of McLean and the other passengers, the bus driver stopped and opened the doors, through which the terrified witnesses fled in panic. The police were called immediately and arrived almost instantly. At the same time, the killer continued to stab the boy's lifeless body. Forty stab wounds would end his victim's life. Few could believe what was happening, especially when the killer began to show McLean's decapitated head through the bus windows.

Tim's body had been disemboweled and decapitated. His eyes, nose, tongue, and ears had been torn off and arranged on the floor of the bus, forming a grotesque face.

The major Canadian news outlets had already arrived at the scene, and the horrific crime was broadcast by the media. The news shocked the public, as Vince Li apparently had no motive for committing such a barbaric act. He did not know McLean and they had never exchanged a word. What motivated this terrible crime? Vince Li's psychiatric history came to light. The prosecution and defense agreed that the defendant suffered from schizophrenia and had experienced a severe psychotic episode the day before the murder.

According to people who knew Li, who had emigrated from China to Canada in 2001, he had shown no signs of schizophrenia, obvious emotional instability, or angry outbursts. Many described him as hardworking and friendly; however, the terrible events that took place on July 30, 2008, tell a different story.

Before the judge, Vince Li apologized for what he had done and simply asked to be executed. He also explained that voices had forced him to commit the murder because, if he did not, he would be killed by McLean himself. Later, according to his statement, he realized that none of this was true.

After several psychiatric evaluations, the jury concluded that Vince Wueiguang Li was suffering from schizophrenia, and he was confined to a sanatorium with no release date.

Currently, Vince Li's statements have changed. According to his words (which have been recorded by his psychiatrist, Dr. Stanley Yaren), he acted under God's orders and claimed that he had to kill Tim McLean because he was "an alien."

Shortly thereafter, it was ruled that Li should not remain confined for so long and that he could access certain benefits, always under the care of a specialist and a guard, which could even mean his release, given his supposed mental stability after treatment.

Vince Li, nicknamed by the media as "The Bus Cannibal."

The decision shocked Tim McLean's family and friends, who organized a campaign against this questionable decision. Wearing T-shirts printed with Tim's face, hundreds of people marched through the streets, candles in hand, demanding a review of the case and requesting that Li be locked up for life. The mother of the ill-fated young man, Carol Dedelley, was one of the driving forces behind this initiative. In her own words, she said she did not stigmatize mental illness and agreed with the care and treatment given to Vince Li, but that freedom should never be considered for someone who still poses a clear risk to society.