Florida alligator that ate US woman, 41, revealed in grim new police bodycam footage
US law enforcement footage has revealed the true horror of an alligator attack in Florida that left a 41-year-old woman dead.
The bodycam footage, released by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to Fox 13, showed first responders arriving at the grim scene in September last year.
A bystander raised the alarm after seeing the 4.3m gator with what appeared to be body parts in its mouth at a canal in Largo.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“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 told Fox 13.
The victim was later identified as homeless woman Sabrina Peckham, who had been staying at a campsite just over 15m away from the canal where the massive reptile was found.
The animal was shot dead by police with a rifle before it was hauled out of the waterway and cut open to retrieve Peckham’s remains.
The police bodycam video shows the huge gator surrounded by police moments after it was shot to death.
Its stomach is visibly swollen with Peckham inside.
Fatal encounters between people and alligators are relatively rare, compared to encounters between crocodiles and humans in Australia.
Peckham is just the third person to be killed in Florida’s Pinellas County in the last 50 years, the FWC states.
