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UPDATE: Flesh-eating man killed by police identified

Posted at 11:12 AM, May 29, 2012
and last updated 2012-05-29 11:35:20-04

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MIAMI (WTVR) – The Miami Herald reported the man shot and killed by Miami police over the weekend while chewing the flesh off another man was identified as 31-year-old Rudy Eugene. The Herald cited police sources for the information. The victim remained in critical condition. 

Witness Larry Vega said he saw a naked Eugene chewing off the face of another naked man while passing the MacArthur Causeway exit in Miami over the weekend.

“The guy was tearing him to pieces with his mouth so I told him, get off, you know, and the guy kept eating the other guy away, like ripping his skin,” Vega told WSVN-FOX7.

Vega left the scene and found a police officer.

“A police officer came over, told him several times to get off and a police officer climbed over the divider and got in front of him and said, ‘Get off!’ And told him several times and the guy just stood his head up like that with a piece of flesh in his mouth and growled,” Vegas said.

When the attacker would not stop, Vega said the officer fired his gun. He would not stop the attack, so the officer fired several more times, killing the attacker, Vega said.

A Miami Herald surveillance camera caught the aftermath as the two men laid side by side on the ground.

**WARNING.  YOU MAY FIND THIS VIDEO DISTURBING**

The victim was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital with missing flesh.

Vegas said both men appeared to be homeless and he believed the attacked may have been on drugs.

"He looked like he was on something. Either he was really psychotic or he was on crack," Vegas said.

CBS Miami reported that the president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police believes the incident is the fault of "bath salts," a new street drug trend with LSD-like effects.