TERRIFYING photos have shown a nearly 14-foot alligator that was spotted carrying a human body in its mouth in Florida.
First responders raced to a park in Largo, 30 minutes from Tampa, to rescue the remains and investigate what happened on Friday.
A 14-foot alligator was seen carrying a human body in its jaws in Florida on Friday[/caption]
Law enforcement hunted down the beast after concerned citizens reported the terrifying sight[/caption]
JaMarcus Bullard was headed to a job interview when he saw the body and ran to the nearest fire department[/caption]
JaMarcus Bullard said he was looking for fish in a neighborhood lake while waiting for a job interview when he spotted the gator.
“I noticed it had a body in its mouth, like a lower torso,” he told Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT.
“So once I realized that, I ran straight to the fire department and got them. They confirmed there was a body.”
Florida Fish and Wildlife officers wrestled the gator out of the water at around 2pm so that first responders could recover the body.
The reptile was humanely killed, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said.
It’s unclear if the person died from a gator attack, or if the beast got a hold of the body after the victim’s death.
Cops haven’t offered many details about the victim except that it was an adult and that an autopsy will soon be underway.
HORRIFIC SCENE
Aerial footage showed the lifeless body of the massive gator being loaded onto a flatbed truck as blood covered the sidewalk.
Friday was the first time that Bullard had seen an alligator in real life, so he remembers initially feeling lucky to see one.
“But once I saw what it had I was like, ‘Is that a mannequin?’” he said.
“It looked pale and white.”
Bullard’s report led to a huge response from dozens of cops and firefighters, who blocked off the area as investigators searched for answers about what led up to the tragedy.
Bullard said that he was shaken after realizing the body was recovered right in front of a school and a Boys and Girls Club.
“All I can think about is all of these little kids that go to the school right behind me,” said Bullard.
“They come this way every single day.”
Another neighbor, Jennifer Dean, said that people were starting to gather when they heard several gunshots ring out.
“It could have been anybody,” Dean said.
Officials are working to determine if the gator was behind the individual’s death.
JAWS OF DEATH
The horrific discovery came just a few months after another alligator was found with a toddler’s body in its mouth just 20 miles away.
Police saw a gator with an object in its jaw at Lake Maggiore in St. Petersburg, Florida, on March 31.
Cops shot the animal then determined that it had gotten a hold of the body of a missing boy.
Two-year-old Taylen Mosley had been reported missing after his mother was found stabbed to death inside their apartment.
An Amber Alert was issued for Taylen and a massive search was launched.
His body was found in the gator’s mouth the next day.
Police allege that the boy’s father, Thomas Mosley, murdered both Taylen and his mother.
He was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
It took several first responders to load the lifeless creature into a flatbed truck[/caption]
September 23, 2023 at 07:29AM
from The Sun