'The most gruesome thing I have ever seen': Witness describes moment he saw naked man high on LSD eat the face off victim before police shot him

A cyclist described the terrifying moment he witnessed a naked man tear pieces of flesh from another man's face at the side of a freeway before shot dead by police when he refused to stop.

Larry Vega, from Miami, was cycling off the MacArthur Causeway on Saturday afternoon when he saw the savage attack, which he described as 'the most gruesome, traumatic thing I have ever seen in my life'.

He told WSVN: 'The guy was like tearing him to pieces with his mouth and I told him to get off.But the guy just kept eating the other guy away, like ripping his skin.

'A police officer came over, told him several times to get off then climbed over the divider and got in front of him and said, "Get off!" But the guy just stood his head up like that with a piece of flesh in his mouth and growled.'

Mr Vega said the man continued to eat his victim's face so he was shot several times.

Police have said they believe the man - who has not been identified - was high on a potent form of LSD at the time.

His victim, who is believed to be a homeless man, is in hospital recovering from his injuries which are said to be some of the most horrific staff have ever encountered.

It is not clear if he will survive.

Images taken from a Miami Herald surveillance camera show the legs of the two men lying beneath a freeway underpass.

Mr Vega described the crime scene - which he compared to a horror movie: 'It was just a blob of blood. You couldn't really see, it was just blood all over the place.

'It was one of the most gruesome things I have ever seen in my life in person. You know, you see these things in the movies but when you see it in person, it's pretty traumatic.'

Armando Aguilar of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police told WSVN: 'What's happening is whenever we see that a person has taken all of his clothes off and has become violent, it’s indicative of this excited delirium that's caused by overdose of drugs.

'What's happening is inside their body their organs are burning up alive.'

Neither the naked man nor the victim have been identified.

A woman notified a police officer nearby that she had seen two men fighting, witnesses told The Miami Herald.

In the barrage of gunfire, the naked man was killed, collapsing face-down on the pedestrian walkway right by the Herald's parking garage.

Javier Ortiz, a police spokesman, said that based on information he's received, the officer who fired the shots 'is a hero and saved a life'.

There were no weapons found near the two naked men, leading them to believe that the attacker used his own strength to subdue his victim.

'There are other ways to injure people,' Sergeant Altarr William told The Herald.

'Some people know martial arts, others are very strong and can kill you with their hands.'

MacArthur Causeway is a major route that connects downtown Miami to popular South Beach.

Traffic clogged the area for hours as people used the route to descend into South Beach for Urban Beach Week, an annual festival dedicated to hip-hop music.