By Jennifer Graham, The Canadian Press

WINNIPEG - A long, hot haul working a booth at an Alberta fair behind him, the young carny boarded a Greyhound bus in Edmonton and settled into a back seat for the ride home to Winnipeg.

As night fell and the bus rumbled on toward Portage la Prairie, Man., Tim McLean leaned against a window and listened to music on his headphones while he text-messaged an old girlfriend.

McLean was oblivious to the large man sitting next to him, a hulking figure in sunglasses who had gotten on the bus at the previous stop and first sat up front, but then moved silently to the back.

Neither McLean nor his fellow passengers, who were reading or sleeping or watching a movie in the darkness, could have expected the horror that was about to unfold.

News of how McLean’s eerily calm seatmate suddenly exploded in violence on Wednesday, stabbing the young man and then decapitating him, has made headlines around the world.

For those who knew the 22-year-old from Winnipeg, the shock of the unprovoked attack and the horrific stories told by witnesses were almost unfathomable.

“I knew he was coming back from the (exhibition) - he travels with the ex,” explained William Caron, 23, of Winnipeg, one of McLean’s best friends since they were in Grade 7 together.

“My brother was supposed to go meet him at the bus depot and he never showed up. And then my younger brother and my other brother went to go to his parents’ place to see if they know anything, and they saw a bunch of news people there. And then they asked at his parents’ and that’s how we found out.”

Caron and his wife, Jodi, were among the first to join a Facebook tribute site called “R.I.P. Tim.”

“We love you so much,” wrote Jodi. “The kids will miss you so much and so will William and I. You were a great person, always happy and loved and had an amazing personality.”

“I can’t believe this is happening,” wrote Leah Dryburgh of Winnipeg. “Tim, you were the best guy ever. You didn’t deserve this at all.”

In an interview with The Canadian Press, William Caron said his three children loved spending time with McLean, who worked a carnival booth on the summer exhibition circuit.

He said his buddy was a quiet guy who like to socialize with friends and who stayed away from a fight.

“I was completely shocked ‘cuz Tim has never been a roughhousing guy. He always kept to himself when there’s strangers around.”

McLean was a small man - somewhere around five-foot-four, weighing maybe 130 pounds.

“He was a small little guy,” said Caron, starting to get a little angry. “From what I hear, this other guy is three times his size.”

But what hurts the most is the randomness of his friend’s death - Caron said he was talking with one of McLean’s ex-girlfriends who said she had been texting him until about 10 minutes before the attack.

“He was just sitting there texting her, listening to music on his cellphone,” Caron said.

“When he went out there (to Alberta), he was just looking for some work. I think just going out for some work turned out to be his worst nightmare.”

Courtesy of;http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080801/national/bus_stabbing_victim