Florida officials capture and kill alligator after fatal attack
A nearly 12-foot alligator kills 71-year-old Steven Hamilton while he is fishing in Winter Garden, Florida. Reporter Madison Scarpino details how officials captured and killed the alligator. Local police warn the public to respect wildlife and keep their distance after this second deadly alligator attack in the state this year.
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Newly released 911 calls capture the frantic aftermath of an alligator attack that left a Florida woman with severe injuries, according to reports.
The attack occurred as Dina Spann, 58, was swimming with a group in Florida’s Silver River near Ray Wayside Park in Marion County over the summer.
Spann survived the attack but lost her right arm below the elbow and part of a finger on her left hand.
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Audio of two 911 calls obtained by The New York Post captured the frantic moments after the attack, including witnesses describing Spann’s severe injuries.
“Somebody got bit by an alligator, I think her arm got bit — it’s dangling off,” one woman said in the call, the Post said. “She lost half an arm.”
Dina Spann, 58, lost her right arm below the elbow and part of a finger on her left hand after an alligator attack in Florida. (Dina Spann via Facebook)
In another 911 call, a woman can be heard screaming and crying as a man tells the dispatcher they are on the Silver River.
“Her arm is gone,” the second 911 caller said.
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Fox News Digital reported on the August incident earlier this year.
At the time, Spann’s son, Zach Guerrina, told the Post his mother was trying to hold the alligator’s jaws open so she could escape.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene after an alligator attacked Dina Spann, seen above, in a Florida river. (Dina Spann via Facebook)
“It had her, but she said she was trying to make sure it didn’t get to her legs,” he said.
Other eyewitnesses shared their accounts of the incident.
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A park visitor named John Gamache told FOX 35 Orlando he saw an alligator’s “head way above the water and going full speed” toward the swimmers.
“Obviously, the minutes mattered.”
Gamache then rushed toward the swimmers in his boat.
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“It was a terrible injury, bones poking out, blood everywhere,” Gamache said.
“Obviously, the minutes mattered.”
A woman lost her right arm after an alligator (not pictured) attacked her while she was swimming in a Florida river. (iStock)
Spann was transported to a hospital after the attack, and FOX 35 reported earlier this summer that she was in good spirits when she returned home.
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Spann’s family also called Gamache to thank him, as FOX 35 noted.
“They called earlier, and we talked for a while, and it was heartwarming to hear them explain their emotions,” Gamache said.
Other alligator attacks have occurred in Florida this year.
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Earlier this year, a child was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after being bitten on the arm and leg by an alligator while swimming in an off-limits Florida nature preserve.
Florida is home to a large population of alligators, which are frequently found in the state’s rivers, lakes, marshes and other freshwater habitats. (Anadolu via Getty Images)
In October, a 71-year-old man was killed by a nearly 12-foot alligator while fishing along the shore of Lake Apopka in Florida, marking the state’s second fatal alligator attack of the year, according to police.
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Fox News Digital’s Kelly McGreal and Jessica Mekles contributed reporting.