CBS NEWS
Police eye a man shot and killed as he apparently tried to eat the face of another man. Both were naked at the time. (CBS4)
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Miami police are asking anyone who may have witnessed a nude man biting off pieces of another nearly naked man's face on the MacArthur Causeway over the weekend to come forward.
An officer came across the men shortly after 2 p.m., when police responded to a 911 call about two naked men fighting on a bike path along the Causeway. The fight was taking place at the causeway exit near the Miami Herald building.
GRAPHIC PHOTOS: South Beach cannibal victim photos
The amazed officer tried to stop it and ordered the man making a meal out of the other man to stop. When the blood-splattered man refused to stop and turned toward police and growled, the officer shot him. The Medical Examiner has identified the man as 31-year old Rudy Eugene.
Since news of the unthinkable attack first broke, the big question has been, Why? Why did the man attack the other? Why were they naked? Why did the attacker turn into a cannibal on the causeway?
Some believe he was under the influence of heavy drugs.
Emergency room doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital said they too have seen a major increase in cases linked to the street drug called "bath salts" or the new LSD.
"We noticed an increase probably after Ultra Fest," said emergency room Dr. Paul Adams, at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
In many of the cases, Dr. Adams said the person's temperature has risen to an extremely high level, they've become very aggressive. Some have used their jaws as a weapon during attacks.
Dr. Adams said the patients were in a state of delirium.
"Extremely strong, I took care of a 150 pound individual who you would have thought he was 250 pounds," Dr. Adams said. "It took six security officers to restrain the individual."
Adams said the extreme strength and violence of patients on "bath salts" has become a significant threat to all those charged with the task of trying to help those high on the drug.
"It's dangerous for the police," Adams said. "It's dangerous for the firefighters. It's dangerous for the hospital workers taking care of them because they come in, they have to be restrained both chemically and physically and you're asking for someone to get hurt."
Eugene is believed to have been homeless. His last address is a home in North Miami Beach. The people who live there now didn't know Eugene, but neighbors remember him.
"The only thing I remember was he was a quiet boy," said Micheline Barret.
Barret said Eugene moved out several years ago, but she never forgot the boy next door.
"I was shocked because I knew him, you know in the area," said Barret who added that she used to give him rides when he needed it.
Eugene had several run-ins with police before, mostly for drug related offenses, trespassing and resisting arrest without violence.
The victim of Saturday's attack, whom police have not identified, was in critical condition at Jackson Memorial on Monday, CNN reports. Fraternal Order of Police President Armando Aguilar told Miami station WPLG that 75 percent to 80 percent of his face was missing.
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