ALLIGATOR DRAGS FISHERMAN INTO LAKE AND KILLS HIM

WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 17 /SRNA/ - A 12-foot alligator dragged fisherman Steve Hamilton into the water and killed him while he was fishing in a lake in Winter Garden, Florida, local police said today.

Hamilton’s body was recovered from the water several hours later, The Guardian reported.

Captain Michael Mason of the Winter Garden Police Department told the media that the alligator was killed following the fatal attack on Hamilton.

He said authorities had not been notified that an alligator had been spotted in the lake, which is connected to Lake Apopka, but that it was well known that there are "many alligators" in the water.

"It is not unusual to see alligators in this part of the city," Mason said.

Hamilton’s death came less than four months after a 13-foot alligator attacked and killed a woman while she was swimming with her boyfriend in the Econlockhatchee River in Seminole County, Florida.

Alligators have killed at least 34 people in Florida since 1948, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which collects reports of encounters with humans involving the estimated 1.3 million alligators living in the U.S. state.