Sheriff Snyder said the teen was in a sports bar after returning home for a break from college when he became angry, possibly about the slow service. “Nothing was working, using all the physical force they could muster”, Snyder said.
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But turther tests will look for evidence of “flakka”, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday.
Flakka is a designer drug that can be snorted, smoked, injected or swallowed, and has been seen in a large number of cases of freakish and uncontrollable behavior in Florida in the past year.
Florida State University student Austin Harrouff, 19, was thought to be on hallucinogenic drugs when he fatally stabbed Michelle Mishcon, 53, and 59-year-old John Stevens III on Monday night in their garage in a quiet neighborhood in Tequesta, north of Jupiter.
Mina Harrouff said her son had been “acting strange” in the past week or so and “would say things like he had superpowers; he was here to protect people and other such odd remarks”, according to the police report.
“He says he feels immortal and like a superhero”, she told an emergency dispatcher, adding that he was carrying a “pocketknife switchblade”.
Believed by police to be high on Flakka, Harrouff then viciously attacked the Stevens, who were relaxing in their garage.
Harrouff, a student at Florida State University, was allegedly found tearing off parts of a man’s face with his teeth 45 minutes after leaving the restaurant. His father lives one street away from where the attack occurred.
Forty-seven-year-old neighbor Jeff Fisher, who was also stabbed while trying to help, called police after hearing screams.
Authorities said he is expected to undergo surgery on his hand. Harrouff was charged Wednesday with aggravated battery on a Good Samaritan and will be formally charged later with two counts of first-degree murder.
Multiple “weapons of opportunity” were used to beat, slash and attack the couple, including a switchblade the suspect was known to carry.
Autopsies determined Mischon died of multiple blunt trauma and Stevens died of multiple injuries, the sheriff’s office said. “We don’t know if anything is going to show up on toxicology or not”, she told the station.
“In the neck, in the head – three puncture wounds”, the woman says. Test results normally take one to three weeks, although the Sheriff’s Department said deputies asked for expedited results.
Flakka causes users’ body temperatures to soar to 104 or 105 degrees, causing them to rip off their clothes.
Snyder said deputies are also searching for a 26-year-old woman associated with the suspect, saying she might also be a victim. Police later say Harrouff did not know his victims.
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Police believe it is on the walk home that he attacked his alleged victims – who lived several roads from where he lived with his mum.
