What would you do if someone was beheaded in front of you?

I support the right to bear arms, but I don't think it's right to judge the people on the bus. It may have been pretty obvious the guy was dead right from the first stab. Obviously the beheading would have taken some time. If you stab someone in the jugular, they're gonna die almost instantly. And if the guy is already dead, the sensible thing to do is just evacuate the bus. If you try to fight the guy, you're just going to block people who are trying to get the hell off the bus. And drawing a gun sounds even more foolish, since youre in a crowded and confined space where there is plenty of steel for bullets to ricochet off of.

Situations like that can be extremely chaotic, and the outcome can depend on numerous split-second decisions. You cannot realistically determine anything about the character of the other passengers on the bus. Besides, I can only imagine they're all feeling extremely guilty whether they did the right thing or not. So have a little sympathy.

It is inconceivable to me you could be prosecuted for shooting a burgler in your own home. (wouldn't happen in Nevada unless you shot him in the back) I suppose if you are going to shoot one though, you may as well make sure there is only one witness left.

After making sure everyone made it off the bus safely I would have grabbed a peice of hard sided luggage from the cargo hold and rushed him. Don't care if the kid was still alive or not. After I dis-armed him I would have carved him up like a holiday turkey. Eye for an eye.

After playing hockey for 18 years I discovered Fight or flight is in your DNA, and in a nanosecond you know which one you are. I can't tell you how many times I dropped the gloves with guys who were twice my size only to hear "what were you thinking" from some of my teammates on the bench. The fact is you don't think, you react. Which is why Navy Seals and most spec forces go through some sort of "Hell Week".

Well if it was after a behaeding I'd run away but, if it's in the process i'd try and do something but, not much i really can do...

I have a wife and 3 kids. Armed I would of blown his brains out in a millisecond. Unarmed I would of done nothing. Call me selfish but thats how it has to be.

reply to post by Vasa Croe


I didn’t have time to read anyone’s replies, but I saw this post before heading to bed and thought I would contribute something.

I was hanging out with some friends earlier tonight, they have a house on the local native reserve.
Quite a few of them know one of the passengers on the bus, He was questioned for quite some time after the crime by police. Later, still very shaken up he called his girlfriend and explained what had happened from his point of view. Apparently he told her it was a gang related attack, I do not know how he knew this.

I'm not completely convinced that was what happened, the attacker was much older and came on at a different stop. Though he did commit the crime showing no emotion, like a robot, so he it may not have been his first murder.
I don’t know what to believe, but this is what I was told.

Also, a little sickening that an old lady was pushed aside while others attempted to run out the door.


[edit on 1-8-2008 by Snozaz]

I am not sure but from the interview it sounds like, people immediately exited the bus when it stopped, and he was probably dead at that time, some may not know, the guy was sleep when the initial stab took place, also in a fight many times a stab, if you do not see a knife appears as a punch to onlookers, and it can happen many times in succession without blood immediately, was it day or night when the bus was traveling? this all took place in a short span, very short, the guy in the seat in front said that when they were going to go back onto the bus along with the driver the guy was actually decapitating the individual at that time and he ran towards them with the head in hand and he blocked them from getting onto the bus, you know how bus doors work its pretty hard to enter from the outside, next to impossible if someone is holding the door.

I dunno but lets not second guess a single soul, RIP to the guy who was killed though, hindsight is 20/20, a hockey game is a little different from a cold blooded homicide in your midst, this guy had a knife, its a bit more lethal than a hockey stick and size does not matter a pocket knife can slice a jugular and it takes about 4 minutes after that to bleed out and die.

You have to understand that by the time anyone would've done anything at all, the victim was already dead. The guy had a hunting-like knife (Rambo style) and just started stabbing the guy. He stabbed him 50 times. By the time the 1st witness saw the incident, the victim was probably stabbed 5-10 times already, and that means he would've just bled to death if someone even managed to stop the psycho guy. And I agree with you, it sucks that no one helped the victim. They could've easly have 3-4 people jump on the attacker and pin him down, but if he's waving a huge knife around, would YOU want to get close to him? Probably not. Human's nature is to freak out and run away from danger.

Guys, you would like to say how'd you react. But in reality...you don't. I am in the Canadian Armed Forces (yes, we have one). I spent some time in Afganistan. I was on patrol one night with a close friend. It was anight I would never forget.

We basically had a radius we did every night and were not supposed to go too far off it as it may not have been swept for mines that recently. I was about 20 feet away as my freind stepped on one. Just as he heard a loud "SNAP" I started to hear the word "#" I believe and he looked over at me a face I never seen before. He was literally obliterated infront of me. Picture a close freind you have known for years standing and all of a sudden exploding into 1000's of little pieces.

I ran like a bitch. As soon as I got into the "protected" area I hit the alarm and collapsed. Crying like a little girl, I mean SOBBING. I had PISSED my pants like a 2 year old and shaking like a leaf in a Hurracaine.

I thought I was prepared, I was not. None of you (unless you have direct Military/Very Violent experience) know how for sure youd react.


40 people sat back as a guy with a BIG KNIFE killed ONE other. 95 sat back on those planes on 9/11 when THEY ALL were in danger. Unless you are a HOLOGRAMER.

I would try to get off that bus as soon as possible. It's easy to say that you would try to take down the attacker, but you do not know what you would do until you are in that situation. Choosing to fight a person armed with a knife and knows how to use it is extremely dangerous. Would it be better to have one person killed or two people killed? In my martial arts training, we were taught to try to escape someone with a knife rather than fight them. "Bum rushing" the person is also very dangerous. While the attacker will eventually be taken down, if he is capable with a knife, he can inflict many severe knife wounds before he is dispatched of. All in all, it's not being a coward or not caring about others, but trying to prevent further damage.

I guess it was the shock factor why nobody did anything. Big knife, lots of blood and a psycho will do that.

reply to post by Vasa Croe


EXACTLY! How many people would be alive today if they could have defended themselves against an animal like this?

reply to post by Vasa Croe



I would of armed myself with somekind of improvised weapon and possibly something to counter the knife with. There would of been bunches of bags and luggage. A bag with something heavy and tough materiel would be best, like a good laptop bag with laptop within it.

I realize at that point the victim would be dead, but my goal is not to save the dead. There would be other people still alive and that maniac would be a threat to anyone. I would do my best to kill that beast. No mercy, No pity and no remorse for that monster.

There are times when others fail to take intiative around you and people are in dire need. In those times someone must stand up and be prepared to come face to face with horror and stare it down or the horror will destroy you. I learned this while in the Army, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Like the Holocaust survivor who sacrificed his life to save his students in the Virginia Tech massacre, people must learn what it is to be selfless and make sacrifices.

We are not all beasts or monsters. We are not all sheep and cattle. People need to wake up and stand up for something greater than themselves. These people will be forever haunted by this event and not only haunted but tortured by the sights and sounds of that event for the rest of their lives.

I would rather die knowing that I helped stop a psychopath than live with the guilt and nightmares I would have for the rest of my life for sitting by and doing nothing.

reply to post by Vasa Croe


it all depends who you are. if you've got it in you to step in, you will. The only thing is you really never know what you would do until you are in the situation.

are you a hero or a coward, you won't find out until you are faced with that type of situation.

Now there is nothing wrong with being a coward, because someone with enough rage to behead someone is a little deranged and if you left your cape and tights at home that day, it might be in your best interest to avoid that situation if you can...

heh

I am embarrassed to say that I am from Edmonton, the city that the bus originally came from.

I would have took some stitches to save that guys life.

sick with embarrassment

I would've jumped the guy fast as soon as he started the stabbing, I don't care about getting stabbed or slashed, if someone is getting attacked you shouldn't just sit there and watch or walk away, that is cowardice. Maybe if there was someone like me on that bus, the guy would still be alive today.

well, it's actually good that pushed the little old lady out of the way.
old people are useless.
and, throwing an infant was dangerous, the mother should have coddled the child, offering her back as a target to buy time. you know, a little kid hits it's head too hard on something metal, and it could be brain-damaged for life.
and, what's with the kid letting someone sit in the empty seat next to him? you just don't KNOW what some stranger might do. clearly, the victim is at fault.

anyway, political correctness and chivalry aside, no one who wasn't there can know what it was like, and all your back seat heroism is just MADDENING!

the people on the bus did the right thing. .... "live to fight another day".

totally unprecedented.

reply to post by billy bob



"live to fight another day"????????????????

live to go home,
live to go to their doctor and get some pills to dull their guilt because they did nothing and ran like cowards.

Sorry people with your kind of attitude, makes excuses, and has a generally passive aggressive attitude mirrors today's dulled down, pilled out society.

If this happened 30yrs ago, that guy would have been stomped to death



[edit on 2-8-2008 by wrathchild]

reply to post by wrathchild


i doubt it.
your opinion, nothing more.
i was around thirty years ago, and i'm guessing the reaction would have been exactly the same.
maybe right after world war two, you might have gotten a rise out of the testosterone bank, but docility in the public is not new. it is engineered.

your right... definitely engineered.

I'm sure most people(or at least I hope) has somewhat risked their well being for another person's safety or life.

I have. I consider myself pretty average.

Excellent question. In a non-violent scenario, I would help a stranger out in a heartbeat. But to gear the answer more towards your thread question and the linked thread, to be completely honest, I would have fled. Being a female, it really would have done me no good whatsoever to have jumped in. I know that is not a popular answer but that is my honest answer. As a female: No. I would have ran.

However, let's say it was my son or a loved one being attacked: Then I would have gone at the attacker with extracted claws without giving it a second thought.

It certainly was a terrifying news story but like someone else said: Fight or flight and you don't always have time to think before instinct kicks in. It is very sad to know that nobody helped the victim but when you are in a situation like that where you have absolutely no time to plan, you typically get out first then think would have, should have, could have later.

Edit: Why on earth is the guy only being charged with 2nd degree murder?

[edit on 8/2/2008 by AshleyD]