Miami cannibal attack
| Miami cannibal attack | |
|---|---|
Omni neighborhood, where the attack took place. The MacArthur Causeway is lit in the foreground.
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| Location | Miami, Florida, United States |
| Coordinates | 25°47′14″N 80°11′12″W / 25.78728°N 80.18656°WCoordinates: 25°47′14″N 80°11′12″W / 25.78728°N 80.18656°W |
| Date | May 26, 2012 1:55 – 2:13 p.m. (EDT) |
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Attack type
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Cannibalistic |
| Deaths | Rudy Eugene (shot) |
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Non-fatal injuries
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Ronald Poppo |
| Perpetrator | Rudy Eugene |
| Rudy Eugene | |
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Eugene in 2009.
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| Born |
February 4, 1981 Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Died | May 26, 2012 (aged 31) Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Other names | Causeway Cannibal Miami Cannibal Miami Zombie |
| Spouse(s) | Jenny Ductant (2005–2008) |
| Ronald Edward Poppo | |
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Poppo in 2004.
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| Born |
May 17, 1947 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Children | Janice Poppo DiBello (daughter) |
| Relatives | Antoinette Poppo (sister) Joseph Poppo (brother) |
On May 26, 2012, a naked male assailant named Rudy Eugene attacked and gruesomely maimed homeless man Ronald Poppo underneath a tram bridge crossing the MacArthur Causeway in Miami, Florida, making headlines across the world. During the 18-minute filmed encounter Eugene erroneously and erratically accused Poppo of stealing his Bible, then beat him unconscious, removed Poppo's pants, and bit and chewed the flesh off most of his face above the beard (including his left eye). This rendered Poppo permanently blind in both eyes and grossly disfigured his face. Due to the incident's bizarrely grotesque nature and subsequent worldwide media coverage, Eugene came to be dubbed the "Miami Zombie" and the "Causeway Cannibal". The attack ended when Eugene was fatally shot by a Miami PD officer after failing to respond to commands instructing him to stop (he reportedly even snarled at police).
Although friends and family interviewed immediately afterward filled in details of Eugene's life, the reason for the attack remains unclear due to Eugene's death. Eugene, 31, was employed at a car wash at the time and was a divorced former high school football player with a series of petty criminal arrests from age 16 until most recently in 2009. Poppo, 65, a graduate of Manhattan's prestigious Stuyvesant High School, was homeless and had long been presumed dead by his estranged family. While police sources speculated that the use of a legal recreational synthetic stimulant party drug such as "bath salts" (which have a notorious reputation for the psychotic effects of the drug on some individuals) might have been a contributing factor, experts expressed doubt about this hypothesis, since toxicology reports were only able to identify cannabis/marijuana in Eugene's system, leaving the ultimate cause of his behavior unknown.
On the morning of May 26, 2012, 31-year-old Rudy Eugene drove to Miami Beach, to Urban Beach Week. His Haitian-flag-draped purple Chevrolet Caprice became disabled along the way. After spending 30–40 minutes at the site, as filmed on security video in and around the car, he abandoned it about noon and began to cross the 3-mile-long (4.8 km) span of the MacArthur Causeway, stripping himself of his clothing and disposing of his driver’s license as he advanced westward, according to eyewitnesses. His vehicle was eventually discovered and towed by Miami Beach police. Inside the car, police discovered a Bible and five empty water bottles, which they believe were recently consumed.
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Wikipedia