Nearly 12-Foot Alligator Kills Fisherman at Winter Garden Park

Steven Hamilton, 71, of Winter Garden, Florida, was fishing from the bank of a pond at Dr. Bradford Memorial Park around 5 p.m. Friday when a nearly 12-foot alligator grabbed him and pulled him into the water, the Winter Garden Police Department said. He died at the scene.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission measured the animal at 11 feet, 8 inches. A contracted nuisance alligator trapper was sent to the park, took the alligator out of the pond, and the animal was killed, the agency said.

Emergency crews arrived about 5:20 p.m. after a 911 call reporting a possible alligator attack, Winter Garden Fire Chief Jose Gainza said. They could not get into the water.

The pond was too crowded for rescuers to enter

Gainza described the pond as "fully active" with several alligators. Firefighters and rescue swimmers were kept out of the water because of the animals still moving around in it, and they tried other ways to reach Hamilton instead.

Radio traffic from the scene included reports that witnesses had seen someone possibly grabbed by an alligator and pulled under, according to NBC News.

His body was out of the water around 7 p.m., about two hours after the attack, Gainza said.

The alligator was trapped and killed the same night

Winter Garden Police Capt. Michael Mason said the alligator believed to be responsible was captured and killed by FWC trappers and was no longer a danger to the public. Police on scene initially described the animal as nearly 12 feet; the FWC later put the length at 11 feet, 8 inches.

No one had reported an alligator near that shoreline before the attack, Mason said. The Winter Garden Police Department and the FWC opened a joint investigation into the death.

The park has a crossing called Gator Bridge

Dr. Bradford Memorial Park sits about 15 miles northwest of Orlando and holds several small ponds with direct water access to Lake Apopka. The name of one crossing in the park is Gator Bridge.

Lake Apopka supports one of the largest American alligator populations in Central Florida, according to the FWC. Mason put it in plainer terms for reporters Friday night: "Lake Apopka has tons of alligators in it, so that's not uncommon to see alligators in this part of town at all."

That is also why, Mason said, authorities were not warned in advance that an alligator was along the shoreline. Nobody calls in something they see every day.

Brittany Clark was the first Florida death this year

Hamilton is the second person killed by an alligator in Florida in 2026. The first was Brittany Clark, 31, of Oviedo, who died in June after she was attacked while swimming in the Little Big Econ State Forest near Orlando. Officials said she was in about three feet of water.

Her boyfriend and friends tried to save her. On the 911 call, someone is heard saying she had lost one arm and nearly the second and was "losing a lot of blood." Her boyfriend says: "It's bad. It's really bad. Please hurry." She was pronounced dead.

The Associated Press reported the alligator that killed Clark was 13 feet long.

Florida has counted alligator bites since 1948

The FWC tracks unprovoked alligator bites going back to 1948. State data showed 500 bites on humans through 2025, 32 of them fatal. With this year's two deaths, the running total of people killed by alligators in Florida since 1948 stands at 34.

Year to year, the numbers are small and they bounce around. The FWC counted 13 bites in 2025 with two deaths, eight major and five minor; 11 bites in 2024 with no deaths; 23 bites in 2023 with two deaths; 11 bites in 2022 with two deaths; and nine bites in 2021 with no deaths.

Florida has never recorded more than three fatal alligator attacks in a single year.

The two people killed in 2025

Cynthia Diekema, 61, was attacked while canoeing in Polk County in May 2025. The Associated Press described her as being tipped out of her canoe by an alligator.

Deborah Herndon, 73, was found dead in October 2025 at a residential pond in Pinellas County.

Among earlier cases in the state's tally is an 85-year-old widow who was dragged out of her backyard by an alligator while walking her dog in 2023.

A congressman wants the federal listing studied

After Clark's death in June, Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Steube introduced a resolution calling on the Comptroller General and the U.S. Department of the Interior to study how the American alligator's federal listing affects Florida's ability to remove nuisance alligators from residential and commercial waterways.

The alligator is listed as "threatened due to similarity of appearance". Steube said the species has been fully recovered since 1987 and stays protected mainly to prevent trafficking and the hunting of the American crocodile, which looks similar.

Where alligators live in Florida, which is everywhere

American alligators turn up in rivers, streams, lakes, swamps and marshes, and the FWC says they are found in all 67 Florida counties.

The agency runs a Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program that handles complaints about animals considered a threat to people, pets or property, and it takes those reports through a toll-free line. Nobody had called one in about this pond.

What police said afterward

Mason's advice to anyone fishing or walking near water in Central Florida was blunt. "Always be aware of your surroundings. Always be safe," he said. "Local wildlife, respect it. Keep your distance. It looks like it's docile, it looks like your Florida emblem, but it can be dangerous."

Winter Garden police urged people around spots like Lake Apopka, where alligators are common, to stay aware of what is around them and keep space between themselves and the wildlife.

An FWC spokesperson said the agency "extends its deepest sympathies" to the family and loved ones of the victim during this difficult time. The commission also noted that serious injuries from alligators are rare in Florida.

The timeline, in order

Around 5 p.m. Friday, October 16, 2026, Hamilton was standing on the shoreline at Dr. Bradford Memorial Park with a fishing line in the water. The alligator bit him and pulled him in.

At about 5:20 p.m., Winter Garden fire and police units arrived after a 911 call reporting a possible alligator attack. Crews held at the bank because of the other alligators in the pond.

Around 7 p.m., Gainza said Hamilton's body had been recovered. An FWC trapper arrived, removed the 11-foot, 8-inch alligator, and the animal was killed. Police and the FWC are investigating together, and no additional information has been released.