In Florida, United States, officials reported that a 41-year-old woman’s body was discovered in a creek, accompanied by the humane euthanization of a 13-foot, 8.5-inch (4-meter) male alligator. The incident unfolded following a report of a body sighted in the creek in Largo, Florida. Police responded to the scene on Friday.
On Saturday, authorities confirmed the identity of the deceased individual but noted that the manner and cause of death are pending determination, with an ongoing investigation. An eyewitness, Jamarcus Bullard, recounted seeing a large alligator and a body in the creek before promptly reporting the incident to a nearby fire station, as reported by US media.
“I threw a rock at the gator, just to see if it was like really a gator,” Bullard told WFLA-TV, an NBC News affiliate, on Friday.
“It pulled the body, like it was holding on to the lower part of the torso, and just pulled it under the water.”
Bullard said the alligator put up a strong fight against authorities.
“They put a rope around its neck and put it on a pulley of a truck,” he said. “They were reeling it in, but it started to pull the truck into the water.
“They got this long stick thing, pulled the head out of the water, then they shot it and once they reeled it all the way out, they stretched it out and measured it 13 feet long and they shot it again,” Bullard said.
Alligators are common in the southeast United States, especially in Florida.
In July, a 69-year-old woman was killed by an alligator near a lagoon in South Carolina, with police saying the animal guarded her body and kept rescuers back.
