Miami 'zombie' attacker may have been using 'bath salts'

[GawsipRawksz]

A naked man who chewed off the face of another man in what is being called a zombie-like attack may have been under the influence of "bath salts," a drug referred to as the new LSD, according to reports from CNN affiliates in Miami.

The horrific attack occurred Saturday and was only stopped after a police officer shot the attacker several times, killing him.

Larry Vega witnessed the attack on Miami's MacArthur Causeway. He told CNN affiliate WSVN he saw one naked man chewing off the face of another naked man.

"The guy was like tearing him to pieces with his mouth, so I told him, 'Get off!'" Vega told WSVN. "You know it's like the guy just kept eating the other guy away, like ripping his skin."

"It was just a blob of blood," WSVN quoted Vega as saying. "You couldn't really see, it was just blood all over the place."

Vega said he flagged down a passing police officer.

"When the officer approached him, told him to stop, pointed a gun at him, he turned around and growled like a wild animal and kept eating at the man's face," Fraternal Order of Police President Armando Aguilar told CNN affiliate WPLG.

Augilar said he suspects the attacker, identified as 31-year-old Rudy Eugene, was under the influence of "bath salts." Four other drug use instances in Miami-Dade bear resemblances to Saturday's attack, he told WPLG.

"It causes them to go completely insane and become very violent" and take off their clothes, Augilar told WPLG.

Dr. Paul Adams, an emergency room physician at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, told CNN affiliate WBFS that the drug makes users delirious. They exhibit elevated temperatures and extreme physical strength, Adams said.

“I took care of a 150 pound individual who you would have thought he was 250 pounds,” WBFS quoted Adams as saying. “It took six security officers to restrain the individual.”

Adams said users have been known to use their jaws as weapons, according to WBFS.

According to a 2011 report from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, bath salts contain amphetamine-like chemicals.

"Doctors and clinicians at U.S. poison centers have indicated that ingesting or snorting 'bath salts' containing synthetic stimulants can cause chest pains, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, agitation, hallucinations, extreme paranoia, and delusions," according to the NIDA report.

In October, the Drug Enforcement Administration made possession of the stimulants in bath salts, Mephedrone, 3,4 methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and Methylone, illegal under an emergency order. The order lasts for a year with a possible six-month extension.

The stimulants have been placed under restrictions or banned in 37 states, according to a DEA press release.

The victim of Saturday's attack, whom police have not identified, was in critical condition at Jackson Memorial on Monday, according to the WPLG report. Augilar told WPLG that 75% to 80% of his face was missing.

Eugene had an arrest record, mostly misdemeanors, including a battery charge from when he was 16 that was later dropped, according to the Miami Herald.

He had been married but divorced in 2007, WPLG reported. His former wife told the station that Eugene had been violent toward her.

Homeless people near where the attack took place said Eugene was often seen around the area looking confused, according to WPLG.

Source: Reports: Miami 'zombie' attacker may have been using 'bath salts' – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

[Air Quotes]

If it makes you that violent shouldn't it be the new PCP instead?

[MohandasKGanja]

I've been seeing this story pop up on sites all weekend. Just horrific. And on the same weekend as Japanese penis chef...

[stef]

this story is just too sick for words. can you imagine what the victim must have felt like when this guy came up to him and started to eat him alive? holy shit.

[MohandasKGanja]

this story is just too sick for words. can you imagine what the victim must have felt like when this guy came up to him and started to eat him alive? holy shit.

I'm sure it was indescribable, but the circumstances of the attack seemed to indicate that both guys were naked - in broad daylight, and in the Miami - tempreature, which was around 90 this past weekend. I think they were both high and delirious. At least, I hope the second guy was, too, since that might have helped him not realize what was going on....

[stef]

^^ oh i didn't know the victim was also naked, i just read somewhere that he was homeless (?). how weird. in that case, i agree with you, i hope he was high as a kite as well and didn't realize what was happening. how on earth could he even tear off 80% of his face? god this is just sick...


i guess this makes miami the craziest city right after ohio?

[Sarzy]

This is the sickest thing I've heard since the beheading on the bus in Canada. Gruesome.

[Brah]

this story is just too sick for words. can you imagine what the victim must have felt like when this guy came up to him and started to eat him alive? holy shit.

Oh god, I didn't even realize the second guy was alive when getting his face eaten! Holy shit, this story gets more and more sickening.

[MohandasKGanja]

^^ oh i didn't know the victim was also naked, i just read somewhere that he was homeless (?). how weird. in that case, i agree with you, i hope he was high as a kite as well and didn't realize what was happening. how on earth could he even tear off 80% of his face? god this is just sick...


i guess this makes miami the craziest city right after ohio?

I think I stand half corrected. There is a photo on another site showing Rudy Eugene (the assailant) lying naked face down (dead), next to his victim, who is only dressed from the waist up. The whole face area is just one red blob. Luckily, it's not a close up, but still disturbing.

[Sojiita]

^^ oh i didn't know the victim was also naked, i just read somewhere that he was homeless (?). how weird. in that case, i agree with you, i hope he was high as a kite as well and didn't realize what was happening. how on earth could he even tear off 80% of his face? god this is just sick...


i guess this makes miami the craziest city right after ohio?

well...Miami is a city, and Ohio is a state...but not far off really.

Last week Columbus police had to shoot and kill a guy who had beaten his girlfriend up and was high on bath salts, standing in the front doorway with a knife to his girlfriend's neck. They had no choice but to shoot him.

And this was on Chanwick dr, which is in the same subdivision and about a block and a half from my brother's house. The whole neighborhood was shut down by SWAT and all I guess when this happened. Apparently my nephews liked all the excitement anyway, being teen boys and all.

Those bath salts can make people crazier than shit house rats I guess.


If the homeless guy survives, I wonder if he will get a face transplant?

[shedevilang]

holy fuck!
that is some seriously fucked up shit right there

[witchcurlgirl]

there's a miami university in ohio.....it must be the vortex of all that is fucking crazy in the US.

[SHELLEE]

there's a miami university in ohio.....it must be the vortex of all that is fucking crazy in the US.

You might be on to somthing there...

I can't even imagine coming upon somthing like this. I love this shit in movies but in real life, not so much.

[MohandasKGanja]

I think the only positive thing with all of these bath-salt atrocities lately is that everyone at least smells nice and fresh.

[Nevan]

I read this story over the weekend and almost vomited. I can't get the mental picture of the assailant being held at gunpoint by a cop, told to stop by said cop, look at cop with a mouthful of face hanging out of his mouth and then growling at the cop. And then go back to chowing down. What the fuckity fuck?!?