Nearly 12-foot alligator kills Steven Hamilton, 71, in Winter Garden

A 71-year-old fisherman was dragged off the shoreline of a Winter Garden, Florida, park pond and killed by a nearly 12-foot alligator on Friday evening, the second fatal alligator attack recorded in the state this year.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission identified the man as Steven Hamilton of Winter Garden. He was fishing from the bank at Dr. Bradford Memorial Park, about 15 miles northwest of Orlando, when the animal struck at about 5 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and his body was recovered from the water around 7 p.m., about two hours after the attack.

Rescuers could not immediately reach him. Winter Garden Fire Chief Jose Gainza said the pond was "fully active" with several alligators, which kept rescue swimmers out of the water while crews worked to reach Hamilton by other means.

What the responders described

Emergency crews were called to the park at about 5:20 p.m. after a 911 report of a possible alligator attack, Gainza told FOX 35 Orlando. Responding personnel relayed reports that witnesses had seen someone possibly grabbed by an alligator and pulled into the water, according to radio traffic cited by NBC News.

A contracted nuisance alligator trapper removed and killed an 11-foot, 8-inch alligator believed to be the one involved, the commission said. Police had initially described the animal as nearly 12 feet long.

Winter Garden police and the commission opened a joint investigation into the death. Police Capt. Michael Mason said the alligator was no longer a danger to the public, and he asked anyone who saw the attack to contact authorities.

The commission said in a statement that serious injuries caused by alligators are rare in Florida, and the Winter Garden Police Department confirmed the death in its own statement. "The FWC extends its deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of the victim during this difficult time," a spokesperson said.

A park beside Lake Apopka

Dr. Bradford Memorial Park sits on several small ponds with direct water access to Lake Apopka, which the commission says holds one of the largest American alligator populations in Central Florida. One of the park's crossings is called Gator Bridge. Alligators live in rivers, streams, lakes, swamps and marshes, and are found in all 67 Florida counties.

The commission advises people not to approach or feed alligators, and feeding a wild alligator is illegal in Florida.

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.

Mason said it is not unusual to see alligators in that part of town, given how many are in Lake Apopka, and that nobody had alerted police before Friday's attack that one was near the shoreline. The department urged people fishing or walking near water, especially around Lake Apopka, to stay aware of their surroundings and keep a safe distance from wildlife.

What the bite data show

The commission estimates Florida's alligator population at 1.3 million and has tracked unprovoked bites on humans since 1948. CBS News, citing that data, reported that no year on record has produced more than three fatal attacks.

FOX 35 Orlando's tabulation of the commission's figures lists 13 bites in 2025, two of them fatal, and 11 bites in 2024 with no deaths. In 2021 there were nine bites and no deaths. The state sorts non-fatal bites into major and minor injuries.

Outside 2023, when there were 23 bites, the annual number usually hovers around a dozen.

Through 2025, the commission counted 500 bites on humans since 1948, 32 of them deadly.

The recent record

The worst recent year was 2023, with 23 bites, two of them fatal. In 2022 there were 11 bites and two deaths.

Hamilton's death and Clark's bring the number of people killed by alligators in Florida since 1948 to 34, the Associated Press reported, using state data.

The data set counts unprovoked bites only and sorts them by severity, so it does not measure how often people and alligators come into contact.

Two Florida deaths in 2026

The first was Brittany Clark, a 31-year-old Oviedo woman killed in June while swimming at Little Big Econ State Forest near Orlando. She was in about three feet of water, officials said, and the alligator bit off one of her arms and mauled the other. WTOP reported the animal was 13 feet long. Her boyfriend and friends tried to save her, and she was pronounced dead.

Two people were killed in 2025: Cynthia Diekema, 61, attacked in May while canoeing in Polk County, and Deborah Herndon, 73, found dead in October at a residential pond in Pinellas County.

Among the deaths counted since 1948, WTOP listed an 85-year-old widow who was dragged from her backyard by an alligator while walking her dog in 2023.

After Clark's death, Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Steube introduced a resolution calling for the Comptroller General and the U.S. Department of the Interior to study how the American alligator's federal listing as "threatened due to similarity of appearance" affects Florida's ability to remove nuisance alligators from residential and commercial waterways, WTOP reported.

Steube said the species has been fully recovered since 1987 and remains protected to prevent trafficking and the hunting of the similar-looking American crocodile. Nuisance complaints in Florida go to the state commission, which sends contracted trappers, the arrangement used at the park on Friday.

Residents who believe an alligator poses a threat can call the commission's nuisance alligator hotline at 866-FWC-GATOR, or 866-392-4286. The agency recommends swimming only in designated areas during daylight, since the animals are most active between dusk and dawn.

What has not been released

Winter Garden officials have not released further details of Friday's response.

Officials have not publicly described what witnesses told investigators, or how trappers determined that the animal they killed was the one involved. Nor have they said whether anyone was fishing with Hamilton. The park's ponds connect to Lake Apopka, and officials have not said where the alligator had been living.

Officials have described the captured alligator as the one believed to have attacked Hamilton. The statements issued Friday went no further than that. The commission has not said when the joint investigation will conclude, and it has released no findings from it.