A nearly 12-foot alligator dragged 71-year-old Steve Hamilton from a Winter Garden pond shore and killed him Friday, the second fatal Florida alligator attack this year.
Florida wildlife officials said Hamilton was fishing at a pond in Dr. Bradford Memorial Park when the reptile pulled him into the water around 5 p.m. The park’s small ponds connect to larger Lake Apopka, an area long known for alligators and even marked by a crossing called Gator Bridge.
CBS News reported that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission identified the victim and said an 11-foot, 8-inch alligator was later trapped and removed from the scene.
Winter Garden Police Capt. Michael Mason told reporters Friday night the fisherman had been on shore when the animal yanked him in. He also made plain how routine the danger is around that water.
"Lake Apopka has tons of alligators in it, so that's not uncommon to see alligators in this part of town at all,"
Mason said. Officials pressed a basic safety message that still gets ignored when the animals look calm.
"Always be aware of your surroundings, always be safe. Local wildlife, respect it, keep your distance. It looks like it's docile, it looks like your Florida emblem, but it can be dangerous."
FWC figures put hundreds of thousands of alligators in Florida. Attacks on people still usually hover around a dozen a year, outside the outlier of 23 attacks in 2022. Last year brought 13 attacks, including eight major ones and two deaths.
Florida has recorded 32 fatal alligator attacks since tracking began in 1948. The state has never logged more than three fatal attacks in a single year.
Even so, the recent list is grim. In 2025, Cynthia Diekema, 61, was attacked while canoeing in Polk County in May, and Deborah Herndon, 73, was found dead in December at a residential pond in Pinellas County.
Hamilton’s death was described as the second fatal alligator killing in Florida this year. In June, 31-year-old Brittany Clark was killed while swimming in Little Big Econ State Forest near Orlando. Her boyfriend and friends tried to save her. She was later pronounced dead.
A 911 call captured the panic. Her boyfriend said, "It's bad," then, "It's really bad. Please hurry." Someone on the call said she had lost one arm, nearly lost the second, and was "losing a lot of blood."
Different settings, shore fishing, swimming, canoeing, a residential pond, same outcome when a large alligator closes the gap. Florida’s emblem is real wildlife, not a mascot. Distance and attention are the only reliable defenses the record supports.
Common sense still matters at the water’s edge: treat every gator as dangerous, keep your distance, and never assume the shoreline is safe just because the afternoon looks quiet.
