Pictured: The landscaper horrifically killed when he was sucked into a wood chipper
- Hernan Guiterrez, 42, died when his body was pulled completely through the giant wood chipper
- Girlfriend Karen Gamez-Pereira said the pair planned to get married and he was going to start his own roofing business
- He wanted to take her to his native Guatemala to meet his family - she will instead meet them this week when she attends his funeral
- The scene was so disturbing that grief counselors had to meet with the responding officers
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Dead: Hernan Gutierrez was killed when his body was pulled completely through a wood chipper
The Florida man who died Monday after falling into a giant wood chipper wanted to start his own roofing business, according to his girlfriend.
Hernan Gutierrez, 42, was working Monday with two other men near a Davie home when he somehow ended up inside the machine. It then pulled his entire body through and instantly killed him, police said.
Girlfriend Karen Gamez-Pereira told the Sun-Sentinel that he 'didn't deserve to die' that way and wanted to leave landscaping for his own roofing business.
'It is horrible to think of,' she said. 'He didn't deserve to die like that. Nobody in this world deserves to die like that. I'm in shock.'
Police arriving at the scene were horrified and needed grief counselors to cope, according to reports.
Gutierrez came to the U.S. from Guatemala 14 years ago, she said, and hoped to one day earn enough money to introduce her to his family back home.
She will meet them when she travels this week to Central America for his funeral.
'Our plan was to marry,' she said. 'His dream was to save his money, buy a truck and start his own business.
'For me, he was everything. A good man, a good husband.'
Horrifying: The mulch inside the truck is shown covered in blood after the man's body was pulled through the wood chipper
She recalled receiving the horrifying news from one of Guiterrez's coworkers.
'He just kept saying, 'You have to be strong,' said the grieving woman. 'He could hardly talk.'
Gamez-Pereira described him as 'always happy, hard-working, humble, with a great sense of humor.'
She said many questions are still left unanswered. Both she and his family want to know how and why this could possibly have happened.
'It was a hot day,' Gamez-Pereira said. 'Maybe he was exhausted. Maybe he fell. We don't know.'
Tree Techs owner Rafael Toledo told the paper he is 'sorry and saddened by what happened,' but declined to comment further, citing the investigation.
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SharePolice are unclear on many details surrounding the shocking late afternoon incident, but footage from the scene showed the mulch covered in blood after the man’s body passed through the massive wood chipper.
He was working to clear brush when he died, officials said.
Cheryl Appel, who lives nearby, told the paper she saw a landscape worker in an orange vest running down the street shouting.
‘He was obviously extremely distraught, yelling and flailing his arms around, screaming’ to another co-worker at a nearby fence and ‘collapsed against it, his knees buckled.
Mortifying: A police officer stands at the mouth of the killing machine
‘He looked like he was in shock,’ she added. ‘It was obvious something happened.’
Emergency responders were on the scene shortly after.
Police do believe it was an accident, but were still shocked by the grisly death.
I've been in police work 20 years. I've never seen anything like this,’ Davie Police Captain Dale Engle told the Sun-Sentinel. ‘It was a gruesome scene.’
Authorities are not commenting on the investigation other than to acknowledge the wood chipper is in their possession.
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