Ronald Poppo (right) and Rudy Eugene, left
Scroll to the end to see a pixellated image of Poppo's injuries (WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT)
A homeless man whose face was 'eaten' by a naked assailant later shot dead by police, has been named as Ronald Poppo.
The 65-year-old was attacked in broad daylight on Sunday and is now in a critical condition at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Armando Aguilar of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police told NBC 6: "Seventy-five to 80 percent of his face was missing, and he [the attacker] was actually swallowing pieces of the man's face."
Rudy Eugene, 31, was gunned down after the gruesome attack off the city's MacArthur Causeway, with the aftermath captured on film by a Miami Herald surveillance camera.
According to WTSP, Poppo "lived a hard-knock life among the homeless men who call the space under the causeway home" and has several convictions, mostly for petty offences.
Eugene has been identified as a divorcee with a history of arrests, WPLG-ABC 10 reported.
An old mug shot of Eugene was shown on the station as his former wife told the channel she had not spoken to him for more than three years.
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The woman, named by the Miami Herald as Jenny Ductant, said: "I wouldn't say he had [a] mental problem but he always felt like people was against him...No one was for him, everyone was against him."
She claimed his increasing violence led to their divorce in 2007, adding "That's why I left."
Court records show Eugene had been arrested eight times since the age of 16, once for a battery charge which was later dropped.
Eyewitness Larry Vega told WSVN-Fox 7 he saw a man biting the victim's face.
The cyclist notified police, who ordered Eugene to stop.
Vega added: "The guy just stood, his head up like that, with pieces of flesh in his mouth. And he growled."
The officer fired, but Eugene continued to chew, prompting him to continue shooting, eventually killing him.
The New York Daily News quoted Vega as saying: "The guy - he was like a zombie, blood dripping, it was intense. The closest thing I've seen to it? 'The Walking Dead'."
A former high school friend of Eugene's today hit back at the "zombie" comparisons.
Victoria Forte told the Miami Herald: “Rudy was not a face-eating zombie monster. The Rudy we know was a nice gentleman with a warm smile, and funny.”
Police say Eugene may have been suffering from a drug-induced mania which causes the body to heat up, causing some users to strip off, the Miami Herald reported.
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