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A naked man with 'superhuman strength' was shot dead by police after attacking a retired cop, a father and son and a teenage boy in a drug-fuelled rampage.

Officers attempted to taser 6ft 3in 250lb Anesson Joseph, who witnesses say was growling like a wild animal, but were unable to subdue him.

The 28-year-old suspect also bit the face of his teenage victim in the attack, which bears chilling similarities to that of Miami Cannibal Rudy Eugene.

The shocking incident happened at around 8.30pm on Tuesday in Palm Beach County, Florida, according to Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

Naked Joseph, who is believed to have been under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs, began chasing retired New York police office Douglas Kozlik, who was out for his nightly walk.

The 66-year-old victim was rushed to Delray Medical Center with serious injuries but was released from hospital the following day.

Joseph then chased a man and his 10-year-old son, injuring the child, before attacking 18-year-old Tony Grein and his 16-year-old sister Tania as they took out rubbish.

The teenager had a box cutter on him and tried to defend himself as Joseph bit his face, but the assailant was "ridiculously strong".

Tony told the Palm Beach Post: "He starts biting right away, not a punch, not a hit like you would expect. I was kind of shocked."

The young man said Joseph appeared to be unable to feel pain, even as he was stabbed in the face with the box cutter.

Tony added: "It was that fear of, ‘This guy is invincible.'"

When police tried to corner the suspect he took a "fighting stance", Sheriff Bradshaw said, and officers tried unsuccessfully to taser him.

"He’s obviously delirious on something," Bradshaw said. "He is a huge guy. He takes a fighting stance. They’re trying to get him on the ground. He starts charging them. The Taser did not affect him."

At that point, an officer fired three shots, one to the torso and two the lower part of Joseph's body. He was rushed to hospital but died a short time later.

Bradshaw told the newspaper: "We don’t know right now if he’s expired from the gunshots, or if he’s expired because of obviously he’s on some type of drugs that have made him act like this.

"There’s no way to know if those are the shots that actually killed him, or if he’s died from what they called exited delirium. He’s obviously on some type of narcotics to make him act like this."

In May 2012, naked Rudy Eugene was shot dead by police after attacking homeless Ronald Poppo and eating his face.

Crazed Eugene, 31, is believed to have been high on 'bath salts', a potent hallucinogenic drug, when he ate his victims eyes, nose and flesh.