A man who was fishing on the shore of a Florida lake was bitten and killed by an alligator on Friday, according to police and wildlife authorities.
The man, Steven Hamilton, 71, was fishing at Dr. Bradford Memorial Park on the south side of Lake Apopka, in Winter Garden, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in an emailed statement.
The alligator, which was nearly 12 feet long, was “dispatched,” Capt. Michael Mason of the Winter Garden Police Department said during a news conference on Friday. When asked by a reporter if the alligator had been euthanized, Captain Mason said only that it was “removed as a danger to the public.”
Police first responded to the lake area — a known alligator habitat in Central Florida — at approximately 5 p.m. on Friday, he said.
“Lake Apopka has tons of alligators in it,” Captain Mason said, “so that’s not uncommon to see alligators in this part of town at all.” He added that authorities were not alerted to an alligator sighting before the man was killed.
Fish and Wildlife, which is investigating alongside the Winter Garden police, said that emergency personnel declared Mr. Hamilton dead at the scene. An alligator trapper was then sent to find the reptile.
It was not immediately clear what injuries Mr. Hamilton sustained from the alligator.
Lake Apopka, which is some 15 to 20 miles northwest of Orlando, is Florida’s fourth-largest lake at roughly 30,000 acres, according to the St. Johns River Water Management District. In 2024, it had the 14th-largest alligator population among lakes in the state, with more than 4,600 of them, The Palm Beach Post reported.
There are alligators in all 67 Florida counties, according to Fish and Wildlife. The agency estimates that the state has a healthy and stable alligator population surpassing one million.
Though there is a robust number of the reptiles throughout Florida, attacks on people are rare. They are more common in or around water, as alligators are not well adapted to capturing prey on land. They can, however, lunge at prey within a few feet of a shoreline.
In 2025, there were 13 documented incidents of alligators biting people in Florida, according to Fish and Wildlife’s latest figures, compiled in February. Two of those bites were fatal.
In June, a 31-year-old woman was killed by an alligator while kneeling in a river that was three feet deep in a state forest in Central Florida. The alligator bit both of her arms, and she died on the way to the hospital.
As Florida’s population grows and residents seek waterfront homes, more alligator interactions with humans can occur, Fish and Wildlife said in its report. The likelihood of an attack is low, but the authorities say it’s better to take steps to remain out of harm’s way.
“Local wildlife, respect it, keep your distance,” Captain Mason said on Friday. An alligator “looks like it’s docile. It looks like your Florida emblem. But it can be dangerous.”
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