The Miami Zombie Attack

Warning: Graphic story and photos.

On May 26, 2012, the purple Chevrolet Caprice owned and driven by Rudy Eugene broke down on MacArthur Causeway near downtown in the Omni neighborhood as he headed into Miami Beach to celebrate Urban Beach Week. Eugene spent the next 30 minutes in and around the car, as captured on surveillance camera before he started walking down the freeway holding a bible in his hands. Eugene began stripping off his clothes as he walked down the three-mile road.

He tossed his driver’s license and removed his shoes as he walked.

Meanwhile, Miami Beach police towed his Chevrolet Caprice. Inside the car, police found five empty water bottles and a bible.

Eugene approached 65-year-old Ronald Poppo, a chronically unhoused man who had been lying underneath an elevated Metromover railway, at around 1:55 p.m. Eugene talked calmy at first before he began to scream at Poppo, accusing him of stealing his Bible as he aggressively climbed atop of him. He then told Poppo, "You, me, buddy, and nobody else here. I'm going to kill you." He then stripped off Poppo’s pants and used his teeth to gnaw and tear off his face like a rabid animal.

Many saw the attack and called 9-1-1, including Larry Vega.

Eugene continued biting away at Poppo’s face over the next 18 minutes, stopped only by four shots fired by Miami Police Department Officer Jose Ramirez.

Officer Ramirez ordered Eugene to cease his attack. Eugene looked at Ramirez, his bloodied mouth holding bits of Poppo’s flesh, and growled before he continued biting Poppo’s face.

At 2:13 p.m. Officer Ramirez fired the first of four shots at Eugene. He continued biting Poppo’s face, warranting Ramirez to fire three additional shots at him until he ceased the attack.

The incident was captured on a security camera attached to The Miami Herald building.

Poppo was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital with critical injuries. Medical staff treating Poppo confirmed that 75% - 80% of his face above the beard was missing and that his left eye had been gouged out.

He underwent several surgeries and reconstructive surgery over the months that followed. He was permanently disfigured and blind. 

Eugene had met Poppo while working with the homeless community a few months earlier, although they “barely knew’ each other. Police initially believed Eugene was high on bath salts when he attacked Poppo, although toxicology reports later revealed he only had marijuana in his system. More than a decade later, police still aren’t sure what caused Eugene to attack Poppo.

Poppo spoke to detectives two months after the attack, thanking Officer Ramirez for saving his life. He told officers Eugene seemed friendly when he first approached him but then told Poppo he could not “score” at the beach. Poppo believed he was “souped up on something.” Eugene told Poppo how they were going to die, accused him of stealing his Bible, and then strangled him and “plucked out” both of his eyes.

"He attacked me," Poppo said. "He just ripped me to ribbons. He chewed up my face. He plucked out my eyes. Basically, that's all there is to say about it."

"He mashed my face into the sidewalk," Poppo continued. "My face is all bent and mashed up. My eyes, my eyes got plucked out. He was strangling me in wrestling holds at the same time he was plucking my eyes out."

It’s unclear why Eugene thought Poppo had stolen his Bible.

Two days before the attack, a Miami homeless organization offered Poppo assistance, but he declined their offer. Poppo’s family, including a daughter named Janice, had not heard from him in 30 years and assumed he was dead.

Eugene, 31 at the time of the attack, worked at a car wash. He was divorced but did not have any children. He had a girlfriend whom he had been with for a few months. He had been arrested for a series of petty crimes since age 16, although his last arrest came three years before in 2009.

Sources:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/miami-cannibal-rudy-eugene-human-flesh-stomach/story?id=16532422

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/face-eating-victim-ronald-poppo-on-causeway-cannibal-he-just-ripped-me-to-ribbons-6539786

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-911-calls_n_1574109