The family of a young man stabbed to death and beheaded on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba on Wednesday night finally spoke out Saturday, calling 22-year-old Tim McLean "a little guy with a heart bigger than you could know."
"Timothy Richard McLean - known as Timmy to his friends and Tim Junior by his family - was a stubborn soul and a kind one," said Tim's uncle, Alex McLean, reading a statement from the family.
"He made friends effortlessly, disliked no one, and accepted everyone for who they were. He was a charmer who loved to smile, and you could never take a plate of food away from him."
Through the statement, the family went on to thank the thousands of well-wishers who have expressed their sorrow and shock at Tim's gruesome and sudden death.
"The family appreciates all the love and support from friends, loved ones and the public nationwide," Alex McLean read. "The outpouring of well-wishes from complete strangers has been overwhelming."
Dozens of tribute groups have been set up in Tim McLean's honour on social networking sites, where messages of condolence can be posted publicly.
By Saturday evening, more than 50,000 people had joined the tribute group, RIP Tim McLean.
Vince Weiguang Li, the 40-year-old suspect in the apparently unprovoked killing, appeared in court Friday in Portage la Prairie, Man., to face a second-degree murder charge.
Judge Rocky Pollack asked that Li, a resident of Edmonton who worked at a McDonald's restaurant, be held in custody in Winnipeg, pending a court-ordered psychological evaluation. He's set to appear in court again on Tuesday.
At the time of his death, Tim McLean was on his way home to Manitoba after working as a summer carnival worker at Edmonton's Capital Ex, and was planning to then work at Vancouver's Pacific National Exhibition.
But he loved working at the PNE so much, he planned to move to Vancouver this summer, his friend Teisha Ryley said.
"He was just heading home from the carnival when that happened," Ryley said, adding that a friend called her Friday morning and told her McLean was dead.
"As soon as she said Manitoba, I knew. I immediately got sick to my stomach. I've hugged him, I've worked with him, I've talked to him. You never think you're going to go from being happy to never seeing him again."
"He was such a sweetheart. I cannot think of anybody who would not miss him," said Mayme Martin, 19, who worked the carnival circuit with McLean.
"To anybody who knew him, he was that bright, bubbly, happy guy. He was always out for fun. I already miss him.
"He was a sweetheart. He was tiny. We all called him Tiny Tim. He picked on me because I was smaller than him. But it was all in good fun. He'd never even hurt a fly. He wouldn't even kill an ant if it was crawling up his leg. He was that guy who all the girls said he was their best friend."
This would have been McLean's third stint at the PNE, where he worked for LL Enterprises, which provides midway games such as rollerball and darts to carnivals across the country.
Co-owner Lorne Lillemo described McLean as a "great kid" who was always on time, worked hard and never complained. He said McLean liked being a carny because it allowed him to travel around Canada.
"He always made people laugh and smile," Lillemo said. "If I had 10 Tims, I'd be a happy small business man. It's a real tragedy. I feel bad for his family."
To Ryley, McLean was a great friend, a funny, charismatic "ladies' man" who charmed everyone he met.
Although shy at first, he was a go-getter and true carny who loved working at the PNE. Despite the long hours on the job, he was always positive.
"Everyone loved him. Everybody who knew him clung to him," Ryley said. "He cracked jokes left, right and centre. He never took anything seriously; he lived for the moment."
Although they lived provinces apart, she and McLean kept in touch through the social-networking website Facebook.
"He was going to do the PNE again and was all excited," Ryley said. "He was planning to come live down here. He was talking about getting a place."
On Saturday, his family reiterated McLean's effect on others.
"Tim spent his life travelling and meeting new people and always saw the good in everyone," read Alex McLean from the statement, declining to take questions from reporters.
"He had the most infectious giggle and you could hear him laughing a mile away. It didn't matter what kind of day you were having, because, when you heard him laugh, you couldn't help but join in. (He) touched the lives of so many people here, as well as in places he travelled."
Passengers described fleeing in terror from a Greyhound bus outside Portage la Prairie - 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg - as a passenger stabbed the man sleeping next to him, decapitated him and waved the severed head at horrified witnesses.
Picture of Tim -
. Honestly, I don't know what I would do. I would have probably hid behind everyone outside of the bus, cell phone in my hand, calling everyone, screaming, my pants wet from pissing myself, and who knows what else.
. Why the 
