UPDATE 08/17/16:
A Florida State University student was found by police Monday evening in Tequesta, Florida as he was knelt over the body of a man he had allegedly just stabbed to death, "grunting and growling" and "making animal noises" as he allegedly ate parts of the man's face. 19-year-old Austin Harrouff was arrested for allegedly fatally stabbing both the man and his wife, as well as stabbing a neighbor who tried to intervene, the Miami Herald reported. Police are investigating whether or not Harrouff was high on flakka at the time of the crime.
Flakka (Alpha-Pyrrolidinopentiophenone) is a designer drug that has been known to cause bizarre and extreme effects. In 2015, Dr. Jim Hall, with the Center for Applied Research on Substance Use and Health Disparities at Nova Southeastern University Florida, described the effects of flakka:
This is where the body goes into hyperthermia, generally a temperature of 105 degrees. The individual becomes psychotic. They often rip off their clothes and run out into the street violently and have an adrenaline-like strength, and police are called and it takes four or five officers to restrain them. Then, once they are restrained, if they don't receive immediate medical attention they can die.
According to the Miami Herald, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder saidofficers used their stun-guns on Harrouff after arriving to the driveway at the couples' home, but the guns had no effect. Police also tried to use a police K-9 to get Harrouff off the victim, but it took three or four officers to finally pry him away.
Police then went into the garage, where they found the deceased victim's wife, who was also killed. Officers described "an enormous amount of violence" in the garage, adding that Harrouff allegedly used several "weapons of opportunity" when he attacked the victims. Snyder said the attack was "completely unprovoked and random." The neighbor who was also stabbed had surgery Tuesday for his injuries.
CBS Newsreleased the 911 call from the incident Wednesday, in which the neighbor, identified as Jeff Fisher, pleads with authorities to send help. "I ran over there, I'm bleeding profusely at the moment," Fisher is heard saying during the call. "I don't know what happened. I got stabbed. I've been stabbed in the back."
Snyder said he "wouldn’t be surprised" if Harrouff had been high on flakka given the nature of the crime but that police wouldn't be sure until they received a full toxicology report. Flakka had a huge presence in Florida in 2015, but it had reportedly disappeared from the state earlier this spring.
