Passerby Sees Horrific Sight In Largo Florida: Alligator With Lifeless Body!

A 13-foot alligator was spotted with a lifeless body in its mouth on Friday in Ridgecrest Park in Largo, Florida.

A witness spotted the huge gator in a canal in the Largo neighborhood and reported it to the fire department located 400-feet away from the gator, as well as called 911.

"I was on my way to a job interview, and I always look into the lake for fish and stuff and I spotted a gator. I noticed it had a body in its mouth, like a lower torso, so once I saw that I ran straight to the fire department and got them. They confirmed it was a body," JaMarcus Bullard, one of the witnesses said according to Fox 13 Tampa.

"I thought it was fake. This was my first time seeing a gator in real life as well so I was just like it was pretty cool but once I saw what it had I was like is that a mannequin body? It looked like it was pale and white."

The tragic event happened in close proximity to a Head Start and a Boys and Girls Club.

"All I keep thinking of is all these little kids that go to school right behind me and they come this way every single day," Bullard said. "I'm gonna get me bike or start catching the bus to work. They don't have any gates or anything like that, they have small little gates but somebody dies."

A news release issued by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the "13-foot, 8.5 inch male alligator was humanely killed and removed from the waterway." They also confirmed that the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Dive Team "recovered the remains of the deceased adult from the waterway."

The deceased person hasn't been identified yet and an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause and manner of death. The investigation remains ongoing.

During the summer of 2022, a 47-year-old man looking for Frisbees and other discs in the water at Taylor Lake, part of the 153-acre John S. Taylor Park in Largo, was killed by an alligator.

The lake is adjacent to a disc golf course and people are often seen around the lake retrieving Frisbees, despite signs warning people of gators and no swimming signs in the area. People will often go into the water because the retrieved Frisbees can sometimes result in a financial reward.

"In the community, they're called 'squids' and they go out and look for the discs in the water, Andrew King who frequents the park, told Spectrum Bay News 9.

King said he met the man who was killed and said he was a "brave guy."

"I've met him once or twice just playing out here and I'd see him out in the water," he said. "He's a brave guy or was a brave guy and just very dangerous. To lose a life is a very precious and just very hard to hear the news. These discs are expensive to begin with but it's not worth risking your life to, for a leisure sport."

Florida residents/visitors who have a concern about an alligator should call the FWC's toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-392-4286.