<!-- dateline -->WINNIPEG<!-- /dateline --> -- The congregation at Grant Memorial Baptist prayed yesterday for two people whose names will be forever linked by a horrifying crime.
They prayed for Tim McLean, the 22-year-old victim brutally stabbed and beheaded, apparently without provocation, after he fell asleep on a Greyhound bus bound for home.
And they prayed for Vincent Weiguang Li, the 40-year-old man charged with the crime, who worked and worshipped at Grant Memorial after emigrating from China in 2004.
Pastor Tom Castor said Mr. Li was looking for work when he arrived on their doorstep in October or November that year. His English was poor, but he was given a job as a night janitor. He passed several background checks, and had good references from members of Winnipeg's Chinese community.
"We do employment evaluations in which we do criminal record checks and child-abuse registry and none of the references ... gave any indication that he was not a person to be trusted," Mr. Castor said. "There was no risk that we could see."
Mr. Li was described as a diligent employee who made no waves. He and his wife, Anna, who is also from China, began attending Sunday services, although as time passed she often came alone, the pastor said. "She was younger than Vincent and a very kind, very gentle individual."
A family in the congregation took Ms. Li under their wing and they have spoken to her several times since her husband's arrest. Mr. Castor said she's struggling to understand what's happened.
"Like everyone else I think her response is surprise and shock. All of us who had known the family, I don't know that anyone could have seen this coming. There was nothing predictable about it," he said. "She is shocked and very much afraid as to what this is going to mean to her own life."
In published reports over the weekend, a friend of the Li family said Mr. Li had refused repeated offers of help for mental illness. She said he was constantly paranoid and would sometimes take sudden, unexplained bus trips to unusual places.
Mr. Li moved to Edmonton in the past few years and was recently joined there by his wife, who had stayed on her own in Winnipeg for a time.
Last Monday, he disappeared from his job as an Edmonton newspaper deliveryman after saying he wanted to go to Winnipeg for a job interview.
Witnesses said he boarded the Greyhound in Brandon last Wednesday, first sat down near the front, and later changed seats to sit at the back next to Mr. McLean. He had been on the bus for less than an hour when the attack occurred.
Mr. McLean was stabbed dozens of times in his chest and neck, and then beheaded.
Mr. Li was arrested after a four-hour standoff with RCMP.
The congregation at Grant Memorial plan to provide some assistance to Ms. Li, and Mr. Castor said they will do what they can to comfort and advocate for her husband while he remains in custody.
The pastor met Mr. Li only briefly, while he was cleaning the church in the evenings, but said he always seemed pleasant.
"He seemed like a person who was happy to have a job, was very committed to doing it well and really there was nothing that would cause him to stand out in any way," he said.
After working at the church for six months Mr. Li left of his own accord, he said.
He also worked at Midland Foods, an Asian food warehouse, where a former colleague said he seemed quiet, but normal. There were never any unusual outbursts or unexplained absences, the man said. Nor was he ever seen taking medication or discussing concerns about his health.
Last night, dozens of Mr. McLean's friends planned to gather on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislature to light candles in his honour.
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