Newspaper Article

Bystanders ignore pleas of man slain at bus stationBoy, 12, calls police after adults walk away from dying man
By Associated Press KALAMAZOO -- A schizophrenic man allegedly told his brother he heard voices that told him to kill a stranger in a bus station bathroom. Now, Kevin Heisinger -- on his way home to Illinois from orientation at the University of Michigan's social work program -- is dead. He was beaten to death Thursday within earshot of people who never tried to help and never called police, even after they found the 24-year-old dying in a pool of blood, police say. It was a 12-year-old who finally reported the fatal attack, police say. Ypsilanti resident Brian Williams, 40, who has suffered from 20 years of schizophrenia, is in jail on a murder charge. He was arraigned in Kalamazoo on Friday and is being held without bond. He will undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Williams is charged with killing Heisinger as both men were on their way to Chicago: Heisinger to return home before he started his master's degree in Ann Arbor; Williams to see his father. The two men allegedly met in the station bathroom, Executive Lt. Thomas Martin of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said. Several Kalamazoo-area residents expressed outrage that nobody tried to help Heisinger during or after the fatal beating. But there is no law in Michigan that holds bystanders accountable for not helping someone being victimized, Kalamazoo Prosecuting Attorney James Gregart said. No one is believed to have seen what happened in the bathroom. But Martin said several people heard Heisinger call "stop" and "help." When a man did go in to use the bathroom, Martin said, he turned around and walked out after seeing Heisinger lying in a pool of blood. The man then went for coffee at the McDonald's restaurant across the street. Another man found Heisinger unconscious with labored breathing. He, too, left without calling for help. The police have a substation at the bus and train terminal. Finally, Martin said, a 12-year-old boy "asked the adults 'What are you doing?' and called for help." Elizabeth Kutsche said she was angered by the apathy shown during the Thursday murder. "I don't know how to express my disgust and shock," she said. "It's beyond words. I don't understand these people because they can do these things anonymously if they don't want to get involved." For Gregart, it was another example of society becoming "tragically impersonal." "Regrettably, I've seen too many instances where people lack caring and compassion for others -- and that involves domestic violence and child abuse," he said. The adults gave police no explanation for not helping Heisinger, Martin said. "Had somebody interrupted this in some way, jumped, yelled, shouted, we might be investigating an assault and battery, rather than a homicide," Martin said. Williams' brother, Detroit attorney Amos Williams, said Friday that his brother Brian is mentally ill. He is intelligent, brother to three engineers, two of whom graduated from the University of Michigan, and a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army. Amos Williams says his brother's intelligence makes his mental illness harder. "It would be better, he would have less psychic pain, if he were less intelligent. But he knows he's trapped. Even at times when he's on his medication, it breaks my heart. Once, he sat down and cried. He said, 'look at you guys, and look at me,' " Amos Williams said.

I can't stand to hear the asshole who killed him described as a victim. I don't feel sorry for him at all. And to the pricks who couldn't be bothered enough to help save his life, I hope we never meet.