Lin friends relieved suspected killer Magnotta captured

Friends of Jun "Justin" Lin, some of whose remains were discovered last week after they were sent to the federal Liberal and Conservative parties in Ottawa, are expressing relief over his suspected killer's capture.

Lin's former boss said Monday that he is glad 29-year-old Luka Rocca Magnotta has been arrested in a Berlin internet café. 

"I feel like there is justice — it does exist," said Kankan Huang, owner of a Montreal convenience store where Lin had worked part-time as a cashier.

Pei Zhang, a friend of Lin's, was also relieved when he got word of Magnotta's arrest. Zhang said he met Lin at the convenience store, where the late student sought Zhang's advice for settling into Montreal.

"He was very gentle and positive. Always keep smiling," said Zhang in an telephone interview with CBC News. "Every time we talk with each other I feel he was a very good person."

Zhang said he is anxious for Magnotta to be tried by the Canadian justice system.

Lin's murder has profoundly shaken Montreal's large Chinese student community. Some photos of Lin, little notes, flowers and flags — including a Chinese flag and a gay pride flag —  were laid by the Norman Bethune statue near Concordia University on Monday.

A custodian at the scene told CBC News that he was forced to remove some of the makeshift memorial as heavy rain descended on the city. At one point, the notes included a photo of Lin with the words "we got that beast" written in French, English, and Chinese characters.

Body parts still missing

Montreal police believe the 33-year-old university student was killed sometime around the evening of May 24 or early May 25. A video that apparently captured some of the act was posted to an online gore site on May 25 and circulated across the internet for several days.

Concordia officials have offered counselling services and a help hotline.

Zheng Xu, a spokesperson from the Chinese Consulate in Montreal, told CBC News that China has not yet issued an official response to the arrest.

The consulate has been in touch with Lin's parents and is working closely with their Canadian counterparts to arrange a trip to Canada for his family, who are reportedly coming to Montreal later this week to retrieve Lin's remains.

Lin's  torso was found stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in a trash pile behind the suspect's apartment in a working-class neighbourhood off Montreal's Décarie Expressway.

Other remains were retrieved from the garbage and from the tiny bachelor apartment where the crime allegedly took place. Montreal police Cmdr. Ian Lafrenière said some body parts are still missing.

Lin came to Canada last year to study at Montreal's Concordia University, and held down two part-time jobs at convenience stores while taking computer science and engineering classes.

"He worked hard," Dahai Fu, a friend who has known Lin for two years, said recently.

He also described Lin as a gentle person who was committed to his studies.

"He just wanted to, you know, he just wanted to be a member of society, of the country."