Ruben Altidore, 36, was arrested Monday
after
repeatedly attacking his sister with a machete inside the bedroom of a Margate home and asking her, “Why aren’t you dead yet?”
Officers from the Margate Police Department responded to a home in Margate and heard a woman screaming from inside.
The woman ran outside and told police that someone was trying to kill her.
When police spoke to the woman’s cousin, she said her alleged attacker was Altidor, the woman’s brother.
The victim’s cousin had been present at the home at the time of the attack.
While being transported to a nearby hospital, the victim told an officer that Altidore struck her several times with a machete and said Altidore told her, “Oh my God, why aren’t you dead yet?” during the attack.
According to investigators, the injuries were catastrophic.
The victim suffered a 10-inch wound that reached the bone on the back of her right thigh, a four-inch laceration to the back of her right hand with the possible amputation of at least four fingers, a near amputation of her left index finger and thumb, and a cut to her left palm with a near amputation of her left thumb.
Home surveillance video exclusively obtained by Local 10 News on Tuesday captures screams as a woman flees from Altidore, who police say chased her with a machete.
Another woman is seen holding a child as the injured woman runs to a neighbor’s home seeking help, with the video showing the woman, who was bleeding heavily, ringing the doorbell before collapsing.
The victim had been asleep with her one-year-old daughter during the assault.
The victim’s 1-year-old daughter was lying in bed during the attack.
The girl was not physically injured but was covered in the victim’s blood, according to investigators.
Police discovered extensive evidence at the scene.
When police searched the home, they saw a large amount of blood in the bedroom with a trail that went down the hallway and out of the house, and found a sheath for a machete in the kitchen and the suspected weapon under a bed in another bedroom.
He is being held without bail at the Broward County Main Jail.
Additional charges were also filed against him.
According to online jail records, Altidor was also charged with a probation violation in connection with an aggravated battery charge from a separate case.
In the viral moment during the early Monday hours,
officers heard a woman’s screams coming from inside the house and shortly after, the victim left the residence and told officers someone was trying to kill her.
A cousin of the woman identified the alleged aggressor as Ruben Altidor, the victim’s brother.
The victim’s one-year-old daughter was sleeping in the same bed when the attack occurred, although the minor was very close to the attack, she did not suffer injuries.
Due to the girl’s presence during the alleged attack, prosecutors filed a charge of aggravated child abuse against Altidor.
Altidore remains jailed pending further court proceedings.