A nearly 12-foot alligator killed a 71-year-old man who was fishing on the shore of a Florida lake Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, authorities said.
Steven Hamilton was standing on the shore of Lake Apopka at Dr. Bradford Memorial Park in Winter Garden, Fla., when the alligator came up to the shoreline and attacked him around 5 p.m., the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said. The park sits about 15 miles west of Orlando. The alligator then dragged him into the water. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Keep your distance. It looks like it’s docile, it looks like your Florida emblem, but it can be dangerous,” Winter Garden police Capt. Michael Mason said.
Other Alligators Complicated the Rescue
Officers and Winter Garden Fire Rescue crews were sent to a 911 call about a man fishing at a park who had been attacked by an alligator. Responding emergency personnel relayed reports that witnesses had seen someone possibly grabbed by an alligator and pulled into the water, according to a recording of radio traffic.
Other active alligators in the water complicated any chance of rescuing Hamilton. His body was recovered about two hours later, Winter Garden Fire Chief Jose Gainza told FOX35.
The Alligator Measured 11 Feet, 8 Inches
FWC trappers captured and killed the alligator shortly after the attack, and the agency measured the animal at 11 feet, 8 inches.
Police were not alerted in advance that an alligator was near the lake’s shore, Mason said. He said seeing them in that part of town is not unusual, because the lake holds so many.
“The FWC extends its deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of the victim during this difficult time,” the agency said in a statement.
Florida’s Second Fatal Attack of 2026
Hamilton’s death was the second fatal alligator attack in Florida in 2026. In June, Brittany Clark, 31, of Oviedo, was killed by a 13-foot alligator. She died after an alligator bit off one of her arms and mauled the other at Little Big Econ State Forest. She was swimming with friends near Orlando.
The FWC said serious injuries caused by alligators are rare in Florida, where the animals number about 1.3 million. Alligators are a common sight across much of the state, especially in and around lakes, rivers and grassy areas. Between 1948 and 2025, the state recorded 32 fatal attacks out of 500 total incidents. Florida state data shows the two deaths in 2026 bring the number of people killed since 1948 to 34.
After Clark was killed, U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., introduced a resolution calling on the Comptroller General and the U.S. Department of the Interior to study how the American alligator’s listing as “threatened due to similarity of appearance” affects Florida’s ability to remove nuisance alligators from residential and commercial waterways. Steube said the species has been fully recovered since 1987 but remains protected to prevent trafficking and hunting of the similar-looking American crocodile.
Winter Garden police opened a joint investigation with the FWC. Mason asked anyone who saw the attack to come forward. Witnesses can reach Winter Garden police detective Kevin Burger at 407-656-3636, ext. 6320, and people worried about an alligator can call the FWC’s toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-392-4286.
The state’s earlier victims include a 61-year-old woman tipped out of her canoe by an alligator in 2025 and an 85-year-old widow dragged out of her backyard by an alligator in 2023 while she was walking her dog.
