Cannibal ate 80 percent of his victim’s face in horror 18-minute attack

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Rudy Eugene brazenly attacked and injured Ronald Poppo, tearing off most of his face before he was eventually shot dead by police officers due to not following orders

A twisted cannibal targeted a homeless man and tried to eat his entire face in a horrifying attack which shocked an entire community. He was eventually found by police officers and shot dead after refusing to stop the terrifying assault.

Rudy Eugene brutally attacked Ronald Poppo for a total of 18 minutes, all of which was caught on camera. Ronald was eventually taken to hospital where he remained in a critical condition, with 80 oercent of his face missing.

Police remain baffled to this day as to why the incident even took place and what were Eugene’s motivations for carrying out the brutal attack. Meanwhile, Poppo is now trying to rebuild his life, living out the rest of his days at the hospital.

The incident took place in Miami, Florida on May 26, 2012 — beginning just before 2pm local time.

Eugene had driven to the area for Urban Beach Week, but after around 40 minutes, he abandoned his car and started to walk along a nearby causeway, stripping naked as he was doing so.

After losing all of his clothes along the course of the walk, he ditched all of his possessions in the process, including his phone, driver’s licence and even his Bible. He then ran into Ronald Poppo, a 65-year-old homeless man who had been living under a bridge.

Eugene then began to attack Poppo, inflicting major wounds to his body. He also tore off Poppo’s clothes and then began to bite his face, in a shocking attack on the defenceless man.

Larry Vega, a cyclist who had been passing by, witnessed the attack and soon called 911 to tell the police to stop the violence.

Minutes later, Jose Rivera from the Miami Police Department arrived and was left stunned at what he was seeing, having to do a double take as the attack continued.

Rivera ordered Eugene to stop attacking Poppo, but ignored his calls — appearing to growl at him before turning back and biting Poppo again.

The attack eventually ended when Eugene was shot dead by Rivera a total of five times – the entire ordeal was caught on a nearby security camera.

Poppo was brought to hospital in a critical condition, where doctors were horrified to learn that as much as 80% of his face was missing above the beard.

The left eye had also been gouged out, and he underwent months of facial reconstruction surgeries; although he remains blind to this day.

Officers were left baffled at Eugene’s reasonings for carrying out the attack. Toxicology reports had found there had been undigested pills within his system, but what the pills exactly were could not be identified.

Tests had found there was marijuana present in his body, but there were no other street drugs, alcohol or prescription drugs in his system, a coroner ruled.

There had been suggestions that Eugene had taken a drug known as “bath salts” in the hours before the attack, but this was struck down by police.

“The laboratory has tested for but not detected any other street drugs, alcohol or prescription drugs, or any adulterants found in street drugs,” officers said in a statement at the time. “This includes cocaine, LSD, amphetamines (ecstasy, meth and others), phencyclidine (PCP or “angel dust”), heroin, oxycodone, Xanax, synthetic marijuana (“spice”), and many other similar compounds.”

Since the strange attack, Poppo has managed to fully recover from what happened to him and lives at a hospital facility, now aged 78. He has since become more healthy and is now moving on with his life, learning how to play the guitar.

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