The 71-year-old man killed Friday by an alligator while fishing in an Orange County park was attacked while holding up for a photo of a fish he had recently caught, according to a report by the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner’s Office released Monday.
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The medical examiner also confirmed the victim, Steven Hamilton, died from “blunt force” injuries to his left leg and drowning and concluded his death was accidental.
The report, citing neighbors who witnessed the scene, said the alligator grabbed Hamilton while he took photos of himself. The animal then took him underwater. The gator brought the victim back to the surface but did not release him, submerged him again and resurfaced. At that point, rescuers were able to subdue the gator and free the victim, the report said.
The attack took place around 5 p.m., Winter Garden police said.
Hamilton was pronounced dead at the scene, and the gator was later trapped and killed by trappers dispatched there, according to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.
On Monday, questions to the Winter Garden Police Department, which jointly investigated the attack, were deferred to FWC. FWC released no further information, citing the ongoing investigation.
“The FWC extends its deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of the victim during this difficult time,” the agency said in a statement.
Alligator attacks are relatively rare in Florida, with 13 total attacks in 2025, two of them being fatal. Since 1948, Florida has 500 recorded attacks by alligators, with 32 deaths in that same period, according to FWC data.
Hamilton marks the second person killed by a gator in Florida in 2026. The first was Brittany Clark, 31, who died late June on the way to the hospital after being mauled by a gator in the Econlockhatchee River in Seminole County.
This year also saw three other recorded attacks in Central Florida: a 19-year-old snorkeler bitten on the head and neck in Rainbow River near Dunnellon, an 11-year-old bit on the hand at Nelson Fish Camp in Marion County, and a 58-year-old bitten on the arm while swimming in Silver River, also in Marion County. The victims in all three instances survived, though the latter two had to undergo amputations.
On Friday WGPD Capt. Michael Mason told reporters that Lake Apopka has “tons of alligators in it,” and experts have pointed to alligators huddling into cramped spaces and blending with the murkier waters as drought conditions brought by high temperatures and below-average rainfall deplete rivers, springs and swamps throughout Central Florida.
FWC advises people keep a safe distance from the animals when they’re spotted and to keep pets leashed and away from the water’s edge.
“Always be aware of your surroundings, always be safe,” Mason said Friday. “Local wildlife, respect it.”
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