Austin Harrouff was a normal 19-year-old college student, home to visit his parents. Then he snapped and become a blood-crazed, face eating cannibal, and shocked authorities believe a new street drug is to blame.
And it cost two innocent people their lives.
Harrouff from Facebook
Investigators say the Florida State University sophomore was out to dinner with his parents at Duffy’s Sports Grill in Jupiter, FL when he suddenly became aggravated and stormed out. As his stunned parents called police to report his strange behavior, Harrouff walked three miles past his father’s home, up a seemingly random driveway, and then savagely murdered a husband and wife while they watched television in a garage they’d converted to a lounge.
When police responded to the bloody scene, they found Harrouff eating John Stevens face. It took four officers, a stun gun, and a K-9 unit to finally subdue him.
“One of the first things we try to do at our crime scene is begin to understand the motive of the offender,” Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told reporters during a Tuesday afternoon news conference. “In this case we can’t establish a motive. There’s just … I don’t know. We just don’t know what was going on in his mind, and he’s sedated now so we’re not getting any statements from him.”
But he has a suspicion: Flakka, a new designer street drug, is to blame. “Known on the street as ‘gravel’ and by chemists as alpha-PVP, the terrifying hallucinogen has earned a reputation as one of America’s scariest drugs,” The Daily Mail reported.
It only costs about $5 a hit, and first hit the streets of Florida in 2013. It has since spread to Texas and Ohio, and is gaining popularity.
Snyder said Harrouff was incoherent and growling and making “animal-like noises” when he was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center after the shocking Monday night attack in the quiet neighborhood.
On Tuesday, Snyder told reporters that Harrouff’s condition was “life-threatening.” West Palm Beach television station WPTV reported Wednesday that Harrouff is sedated and on a ventilator with guards stationed nearby.
Snyder said Harrouff stormed out of a restaurant where he was having dinner with his family on Monday night, apparently agitated over slow service.
Michelle Mischon and John Stevens III from Facebook.
A short time later, Michelle Mishcon, 53, and John Stevens III, 59, were attacked outside their home. Neighbors said they had a habit of sitting in their garage, where they often kept the door open while they watched television.
Neighbor Jeff Fisher, 47, tried to help but was stabbed during the attack. He was breathing heavily on the 911 call, which was released Tuesday. He told the operator that the assailant had attacked a woman and then him when he tried to intervene. Fisher was bleeding profusely and taken to a hospital. His father, Steve Fisher, told WPTV that his son was stabbed once in the neck, three times in the back and once in the side. He’s expected to survive.
When a deputy arrived at the couples’ home, she found Harrouff eating John Stevens face, and tried to use her Taser but it didn’t faze the suspect, Snyder said. She tried pulling him off Stevens’ body, but couldn’t. Other deputies arrived shortly along with a dog and it took all of them to subdue Harrouff. Snyder said they didn’t shoot, fearing their bullets would strike the victim.
“The suspect in this case was abnormally strong,” Snyder said, making him think Harrouff was on drugs. He said hospital blood tests showed no signs of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin or other common drugs; it will take longer to test for flakka.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
YEA now we are blaming everything on drugs rather than being brought up properly
We know nothing on how he was raised but we do know he was on drugs so yes we should blame the drugs.
Of course. It’s no different than blaming responsible gun owners for mass shootings!
The actual cause of bad parenting is always deflected from. After All, to progressives, there is no bad upbringing. It’s the drugs, the gun, the money or whatever. The parents are never in the wrong.
In reality, there are one check of a lot of people that should not have had kids. My ex who I pleasantries to for 20 years and I always discussed having kids, but our business took far too much of our time. We knew we could not properly raise kids in our situation, so we simply did not have kids. Having a family is a very big responsibility, and those kids watching tv or games as a baby sitters just turn out bad from watching others who raised their kids that way.
At least I do not have a son or daughter in jail that I felt I needed to make excuses for and when I was single, I saw this all the time with the women I dated.
It was never the kids fault. It was always something or d someone else’s fault they turned out that way.
I have three children, none of whom are into drugs or have ever been to jail… As a parent, I did my best to teach them right from wrong but, in all honesty, once kids become a certain age they have to be responsible for their own choices. To blame parents for the things an older child does outside of the parent’s presence is wholly unfair. All you can do as a parent is teach them right from wrong. It is up to them to do as you taught them… or not. I am now extremely proud off my kids but, make no mistake about it, I take neither credit nor blame for the life my children have chosen to live. They make their own accomplishments and failures. At this point, it’s all on them… And, yes, I’m very proud that they have chosen not to live a life of crime or a life riddled with mind altering substances affecting the decisions they make…And I thank God every day they turned out this way. No one knows any better than I that THEY could have so gone the other way.
Often a person’s upbringing can be blamed when they do something wrong, but blaming this guys parents for what he did, with no more information, is no different than the argument about blaming drugs, money, etc. Children who have had the best of parenting are still individuals who do things of their own volition. Ultimately, we are each responsible for our own actions, regardless of our upbringing. Society is all to quick to want to point the finger at something or someone else, when we are each responsible for our own decisions.
I agree with you 100%
Doesn’t sound like a very enjoyable high to me. I know someone who ended up in a psych ward after using K2, but this “gravel” stuff sounds absolutely gnarly and makes K2 look tame. Wonder if any of the recent mass killers were tested for this stuff?
They could have used the knife and put it is his throat and we would have one less vampire on the loose later in life
Dumb joke
Carry, every day, everywhere.
It’s getting that stupid out there.
Blame game…… it’s bullshit a Nice head shot would have stopped the whole thing.
He was eating the mans face. Too damn dangerous.
God, please help these people with their negative comments. They don’t know any more about this young man or his parents then I do. What I see is a horrific violent murdering, obviously caused by a drug. This young man, still looks like a boy, does not look like a druggie and was out to dinner with his parents. Know one knows how he got the drug, if he even knew it was a drug, or if he took it on his own. It could have been put in a drink, disguised in food, or worse, he took this drug believing it was an innocent small high. This drug turned him into an animal. My heart goes out to him, his parents, family and friends. Please wait until the story has an ending before passes judgement on he and his family. God forbid this would happen to you or your children. We live in the scariest times in our lives. Please pray for this young man and his family.
Really, my heart goes out to the couple who could not have done any wrong. They were at home watching TV!
NO ONE has never done ANY wrong… But, in this instance, I certainly see your point. Regardless, we really do not know how, or even if, this drug was introduced to his system. To assume that he was on this drug and also took it willingly is a bit presumptuous. All we know is he was out dining with his parents and, apparently, left very frustrated. It’s wholly possible someone “slipped” something in his food or drink. It’s also possible that he took this drug himself… Point is, we just don’t know at this time. I think I’m more concerned that there’s something out there that can be ingested to cause such erratic and dangerous behavior than I am about whether or not this young man was using it willingly or not, although the thought that someone would spike his dinner while at a restaurant brings about another concern altogether.
Sharon Davis is the only one who says it like it is. Thank you Sharon.
Not true… I basically said the same thing in my responses to other people’s comments long before I even got to Sharon’s comment… That being said, I obviously agree with her point of view.. As do you, I see! All hope is not lost. There really are people out there that can see through all this “fluff.” 🙂
It seems to me that the drug was placed into his food or drink at the restaurant. That’s the best answer as to how an upstanding young man out to a treat with his mother and father suddenly switched into a beast. Some person did this to him, and us. It could have been kitchen or wait staff. Possibly a bystander happened near their table when the family was distracted, perhaps deliberately, by a disturbance across the room. Modern drugs can occur in doses much, much less than the weight of one dime. They are often a powder; tasteless if dropped in a drink, and unnoticeable on a plate of food. I think this was done out of malice and cruelty toward the family.
God bless isreal and the Usa…prayers is what’s needed!!!! Tks
If this guy intentionally took the drugs he should be prosecuted for murder. This sort of behavior can’t be written off to an accidental reaction to recreational drug use.
Everyone who played a part in making or selling this drug should face prosecution for accessories to murder. A long jail sentence would get these drug pushers off the streets and would send a message that you are going to be held responsible for what you make and sell.
I hate it when kids become blood crazed face eating cannibals. That’s the worst.