Florida authorities have launched an investigation after a severed human head was discovered by horrified beachgoers on a beach on Key Biscayne, just south of Miami Beach, on Tuesday morning.

Miami-Dade police arrived at the beach around 8:40 a.m. after receiving multiple reports of a human head on the sand.

The head was originally found by a worker combing the beach, police said. It is unclear whether the head belonged to a man or a woman, and police are working with the medical examiner’s office to determine the person’s identity.

A Miami-Dade police spokesman said it was too early to say whether the beheading was related to recent cases in the area, including one involving a teenager who went missing Saturday off the coast of Miami Beach.

This macabre discovery shook the inhabitants of the barrier island.

“We’ve seen everything here but nothing like what was found this morning, a person’s head. It makes us afraid to go to the beach we love,” said Bahman Amini, who has lived in a nearby condominium for 40 years. CBS News Miami.

“It’s shocking, shocking. We don’t hear much about it. You’ve heard of drugs washing up on shore and things like that, but a head! » Marcelo Borrelli, a Miami resident, told the media.

Tourists visiting the Sunshine State were also shaken and worried.

“It’s pretty scary and crazy. I’ve never heard of anything like that before on that kind of beach,” Alex Portuondo, a tourist from Denver who lived in South Florida, told CBS News Miami.

“I guess I’m curious if they have any information on where the water came from, if anything else was found, if it happened here on the island or if it s ‘is washed up on the shore. I guess I guess it could have happened elsewhere and washed up here, but I worry about that.