RCMP won't confirm victim was beheaded

BRANDON, Manitoba, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Canadian police were offering little information about death of a man who was stabbed and reportedly beheaded aboard a bus in Manitoba.

While police haven't confirmed the identity of the victim pending notification of his family, friends have identified him a 22-year-old Winnipeg man, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday.

The apparent victim's father told CBC News he was trying to get police confirmation that his son, who contacted him from Brandon, Manitoba, was indeed the victim.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police wouldn't confirm reports of the beheading, saying only a stabbing occurred Wednesday on an eastbound Greyhound bus traveling on the Trans-Canada Highway near Portage la Prairie, CBC reported. Witnesses told media outlets that the victim was decapitated.

The driver stopped along the highway, evacuated the other passengers and, with help from a truck driver who stopped, locked the suspected killer in the bus. Passengers said that the driver disabled the bus so it wouldn't move. Police surrounded the bus and arrested a 40-year-old man.