Republished November 01, 2014 - 6:30 PM
Original Publication Date November 01, 2014 - 12:00 PM
KELOWNA, B.C. - A man accused of fatally stabbing a passenger aboard a bus in a random attack has been charged with second-degree murder.
RCMP say the suspect's name will not be released pending his first court appearance on Monday.
Const. Kris Clark has said that passengers reported seeing the man making a shoving motion toward the victim before walking off the bus.
A 55-year man bled to death from an apparent stab wound to his neck as passengers tried to help him.
RCMP took the suspect into custody on Friday night, hours after saying they knew who was allegedly responsible for the attack early Thursday evening.
Supt. Nick Romanchuk suggested before the arrest that police knew the suspect's whereabouts.
“He must absolutely know that police would be looking for him," Romanchuk said.
The bus was at a regular stop on its way to the Kelowna campus of the University of B.C. when a passenger was stabbed.
Fifteen to 20 passengers were aboard the bus, many of them watching in horror as the victim bled from the neck.
The suspect got off the bus before the driver realized what happened.
“The way the driver described it, it looked like somebody just touching somebody else saying goodbye,” said Les Milton, president of Amalgamated Transit Union’s local in Kelowna.
The driver called 911 and police arrived with a service dog, which tracked the suspect’s trail a short distance before losing it. (Kelowna Daily Courier)