Bad Timing: Greyhound Pulls New Ad Campaign After Beheading

Greyhound has been scrambling to pull a new ad campaign following the gruesome attack on one of its passengers in Canada. The campaign's tag line read: "There's a reason you've never heard of 'bus rage.'"

Some remnants of the newly launched campaign are still visible. According to Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh, a billboard and some tunnel posters near a bus terminal in Toronto were still up earlier today, but were scheduled to be removed later in the day.

Vince Weiguang Li is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Tim McLean. 37 passengers were on board a Greyhound from Edmonton, Alberta to Winnipeg, Manitoba. As the bus traveled along an empty stretch of the TransCanada highway approximately 12 miles from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, witnesses say Li attacked McLean. The attack was said to be unprovoked, and witnesses say that Li stabbed the 22-year-old carnival worker dozens of times. As passengers fled the bus, Li cut off McLean's head, showing it to some of the passengers outside of the bus. A police officer on scene reported seeing Li cutting off pieces of the victim's body, and eating them.

With such an incident having occurred on their buses, Greyhound was wise to quickly pull the campaign. The ads appeared only in Canada. Some in Ontario and western Canada have already been removed. 20,000 inserts featuring the new ads were scheduled to be put into an Alberta Summer Games booklet, but were pulled at the last minute.

Wambaugh issued this statement on the ads:

"Greyhound knows how important it is to get these removed and we are doing everything possible. This is something that we immediately asked to be done last week, realizing that these could be offensive."

In related news, when Li appeared before a judge on Tuesday, he had just three words to say: "Please kill me." Li was simply asked if he wanted a lawyer. The judge has since ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

New details of the case have also emerged. Prosecutor Joyce Dalmyn revealed that Li, 40, had a plastic bag containing the victim's ear, nose, and part of a mouth in his pocket when he was arrested. The officers were able to get only one response out of him, which was "I have to stay on this bus forever."

Dalmyn also said that Li carried the victim's head back and forth across the bus, "taunting" officers. She also said that Li was armed with a knife and pair of scissors and was seen “cutting body parts from the victim and eating those body parts."

During an interview with police following his arrest, Li mostly declined to speak. However, Dalmyn said that on four ocassions he indicated in a low voice that he is guilty.

Dalymn also said that police are now looking into information that Li may have been in a psychiatric facility for as many as four days prior to the attack.