Florida fisherman, 71, mauled to death by 12ft alligator as he posed with catch of the day
A 71-year-old fisherman was killed by an alligator while posing with his catch near a popular lake in central Florida.
Steven Hamilton was mauled to death by a 12-foot gator near Lake Apopka in Dr. Bradford Memorial Park in front of witnesses on Friday. He was holding up his catch for a photograph when the alligator pounced on him and dragged him into the water, said Beatrice Soto, who saw the horrific incident.
“He caught a bass. He held it up for whoever it was to take a picture of him, and the gator came up and grabbed him by the leg and pulled him in,” Soto told WFTV9. Hamilton, a seasoned fisherman from Winter Gardens and a veteran musician on the Orlando circuit, died from his injuries at the scene.
Video of the aftermath showed several dozen trappers capturing the alligator that killed him from the water.
Officials dragged the animal by its mouth from the banks of the lake across the grass bank nearby before fatally shooting it.
Florida Fish and Wildlife officials said the alligator was decapitated and its head was taken in for evidence. Locals at the park said Hamilton was a regular at the fishing spot.
“He was out there almost every single night fishing,” Connor Kelley told WESH2. “Every time it was a, ‘Hey, Steve, how’s it going?’ You know, just checking in. He was a very kind man. Very relatable. I heard from someone else in town that he had helped her kids with fishing down there a few times.”
Jason Handley, another regular, said he arrived at the scene on Friday shortly after hearing about the incident. “As I was leaving to go home, I heard someone say, apparently it was an older gentleman who fishes there every night,” he said. “Just immediately, my stomach dropped because I was so worried it was Steve, and it turns out it unfortunately was.”
Christine Pompilio, from Orlando, said Hamilton was “well known in the music industry here in the Orlando area” through almost four decades of playing in local bands. Pompilio, who is a managing partner at Jax 5th Avenue in Lake Mary, said Hamilton used to play at the venue 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,” she told WFTV9. The incident comes less than four months after 31-year-old Brittany Clark was killed by a 12-foot alligator in another nature spot outside of Orlando.
Disturbing 911 audio from that incident revealed how the alligator stealthily approached Clark while she was hiking at the Little Big Econ State Forest with her boyfriend and friend in June.
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Florida fisherman, 71, mauled to death by 12ft alligator as he posed with catch of the day
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