The Associated Press
MIAMI — Authorities in Miami looked for more witnesses after a naked man who refused to stop chewing on the face of another naked man on a busy highway ramp, despite being shot by police, was finally shot to death.
Detective William Moreno said police want to understand what led to the grisly scene in which a witness said the man — identified by authorities as Rudy Eugene, 31 — growled when a police officer told him to stop his attack.
The victim, who has not been identified, is hospitalized in critical condition.
“We know that there were many people on the MacArthur Causeway, and we’re hoping they come forward,” Moreno told The Miami Herald on Monday.
Miami police have released few details about the weekend attack. Messages left Tuesday by The Associated Press for a police spokesman and the Miami-Dade County medical examiner were not immediately returned.
Witness Larry Vega was riding his bicycle Saturday afternoon when he saw the attack.
“The guy was, like, tearing him to pieces with his mouth, so I told him, ‘Get off!’” Vega told Miami television station WSVN. “The guy just kept eating the other guy away, like, ripping his skin.”
Vega flagged down a police officer, who he said repeatedly ordered the man to get off the victim. The attacker picked his head up and growled at the officer, Vega said.
Vega said the officer shot the attacker, who continued chewing the victim’s face. The officer fired again, killing the him.
A surveillance video camera from The Miami Herald building nearby captured images of the men’s naked legs lying side by side after the shooting.
Vega said the victim appeared gravely injured.
“It was just a blob of blood,” Vega said. “You couldn’t really see, it was just blood all over the place.”
Vega declined to speak Tuesday with The Associated Press and said he was trying to put the attack behind him.
Ives Eugene, who identified himself as Rudy Eugene’s uncle, described his nephew as a “nice and hard-working” man who washed cars at a local dealership.
In a telephone interview, Eugene, 55, said his nephew had asked his girlfriend to borrow her car, but she said no. “So he rode the bicycle, and he never came back home.”
Ives Eugene said the family heard Monday about the attack but did not know what caused it.
Rudy Eugene’s ex-wife declined to be interviewed when reached by telephone.