Designer narcotic acquired inMargate

A designer drug thought to have fueled a bizarre and violent home invasion was acquired inMargate, Martin County SheriffWilliam Snyder saidMonday.

Nico Gallo, 19, is accused of smashing throughthe frontwindowofahomesouth of Stuart about 2:44 a.m. Sunday and attacking a 55-year-old woman and her 34-year-old son.

The intruderwaswearing pajamas and aT-shirt during the attack and kept saying hewas on flakka andwas going to die, the sheriff said. He seemed to demonstrate unusual strength and a high pain threshold — marking the second random attack by a teenager in Martin County this month, officials said.

“Therewas a lot of inexplicable, unprovoked violence,” Snyder said. “Clearly, he was not thinking rationally.”

The sheriff described the intruder as “cannon-balling” through the front window.

The woman’s son fended off the attacker, while his mother struck the intruder several times in the head with an aluminum baseball bat, Snyder said.

Thesheriff said the intruder’sabnormal strength resembled that of 19-year-old Austin Harrouff, who attacked a random couple on Aug. 15, killed them and bit the man's face. Toxicology results are pending in that case.

In the latest incident, Snyder saidoneof Gallo’s friends told deputies Gallo was using anewdesigner drug called methylone that had been purchased in Margate. A subsequent test showed that a substance recovered by deputies was dibutylone, a chemical related to drugs commonly referred to as bath salts, the sheriff said.

“They are extremely unpredictable,” Snyder said. “Five people take it, and one person goes on a rampage. It’s playing Russian roulette with a six-chamber gun and five bullets in the chamber.”

The Margate Police Department and other Broward County police agencies are working several cases involving the substance mentioned by the sheriff, said Sgt. Lori Eller, aMargatePolicespokeswoman.

Deputies handcuffed the intruder and bound his feet because he was kicking them. In a 911 call released Monday, the woman pleaded with deputies to arrive as quickly as possible as her son struggled with the attacker.

“I just hit him with a baseball bat. ... I just hit him two more times,” the woman told the dispatcher. “He won’t leave us alone. He’s going crazy. He’s attacking. I got no ideawhohe is.”

. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital, wherehe remained in stable condition. The woman suffered cuts on her arm from broken glass and needed stitches, officials said.

When Gallo is released from the hospital, he will be charged with burglary with assault, Snyder said. Gallo