Party bus driver’s last trip

A neighbour who lives inside a northside apartment where a murdered party bus driver lived said he heard a loud argument in the hallways the night the man was killed.
Arvid L’Heureux, a tenant who lives in a basement suite at Caprice Manor on 12130 82 St., says he heard commotion in the hall a floor or two above him the night Alan Cumming was fatally stabbed.
Cumming, 38, just finished parking his bus after ending his shift driving pub crawl passengers when he was stabbed by an unknown male shortly before 3:30 a.m. Saturday, police said.
Police say the city’s ninth homicide victim of 2008 could have been walking to his home when he was attacked, just outside the building.
Investigators also believe Cumming was a victim of a robbery gone wrong, but all aspects of this case still have to be confirmed, Det. Pat McCormack said this weekend.
“We’re unclear as to where the assault took place,” said McCormack.
L’Heureux believes a confrontation began inside sometime before Cumming was stabbed after hearing a commotion in the hallways of the building.
Cumming was able to make it to his apartment and call 9-1-1. He died at Royal Alexandra Hospital around 7:30 a.m.
“They said it happened outside, but I don’t think so,” said L’Heureux, who said he only saw Cumming a few times, and they never talked.
Despite the recent rash of violence seen in the neighbourhood, some residents say they still feel safe.
“There have hardly been any problems here,” said Gail Nystrom, who has lived in the neighbourhood for six years.
“This is the first time in a while that this has happened … but any where that you go in Edmonton, you are going to have problems.”
Although L’Heureux says he still considers his apartment to be a safe place to live, when he rises before sunrise and heads out to grab his morning Metro, he is scared.
“I always look to make sure no one is coming before I walk out of the apartment,” said L’Heureux.
–jeffcummings@metronews.ca