A cross now sits where 71-year-old Steven Hamilton was killed by an alligator in Winter Garden, Florida, and a memorial for him nearby continues to grow.
Police say Hamilton was taking a photo with a fish he had caught when the alligator pulled him into the water at Dr. Bradford Memorial Park, killing him. The attack happened at a pond next to Lake Apopka, which is home to thousands of alligators.
Randy Forbes, who has lived on a lakefront property along Lake Apopka in Oakland, Florida, for two decades, grew up in Florida, so alligators are nothing new to him. But he worries some of them may be losing their fear of humans, putting people in danger.
An 11-foot alligator was recently removed by nuisance trappers from the shore near Forbes’ home because of what he described as unusual behavior.
“He would just follow us up and down the dock, and it got to the point where I was just not comfortable at all,” Forbes said.
Last month, Forbes said he and his wife were pressure-washing the dock at his Oakland home when he noticed the alligator getting too close for comfort.
“I tried shooing him off a little bit. He wouldn’t move. He just continued stalking us up and down the dock,” Forbes said.
Fearing the alligator may attack a child in the neighborhood, he contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s nuisance alligator hotline, and a group of trappers stopped by and removed two gators.
“The first one they pulled out of the lake was about 8 feet, 10 inches,” Forbes said. “Then they got the one that we think was the culprit. He was 11 feet, 1 inch.”
On a regular summer day, Forbes said he’ll see several alligators sunbathing in his backyard. It’s a sight he’s grown accustomed to in the two decades he’s lived on his lakefront property.
“Typically, when I walk down toward the lake, they’ll run off,” Forbes said. “This one, he did no running.”
He suspects the alligator was no longer fearful of humans.
“I have a real strong suspicion that people are feeding these gators, especially from the public docks,” Forbes said.
That’s why Friday’s deadly attack at Dr. Bradford Memorial Park in Winter Garden, which Forbes called “absolutely tragic,” has made him more cognizant of his surroundings.
“I do mow all the way down to the water’s edge, so I can guarantee you from this point out, I will be a little more cautious and make sure that I know exactly what’s in my surroundings,” Forbes said.
Forbes said the two alligators that were removed from his property were relocated to Gatorland, unlike the alligator involved in Friday’s deadly attack, which police confirm was killed.
“It is Mother Nature,” Forbes said. “You have to be aware of your surroundings, pay attention, and know that any body of water in Florida can potentially hold an alligator that can do some damage.”
