Alligator killed by Florida authorities after human body found in jaws

Authorities killed a 13-foot, 8.5-inch alligator in Florida after human remains were discovered Friday in its jaws.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said authorities responded to a report of a human body seen in a waterway in Unincorporated Largo, Florida, at about 1:50 p.m. on Friday. 

The alligator was subsequently “humanely killed” and removed from the waterway with the assistance of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, according to a press release from Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

An updated report identified the victim as 41-year-old Sabrina Peckham. The Medical Examiner’s Office said that the manner and cause of death was still pending.

Jamarcus Bullard reported seeing the human remains in the alligator's jaws on Friday, prompting police to respond. He recorded the incident on his phone.

“I threw a rock at the gator just to see if it was really a gator and like it pulled the body, like it was holding on to the lower part of the torso, and pulled it under the water,” Bullard told local station WFLA.

Bullard described watching authorities try to capture the alligator.

“They spotted it over here on this side,” Bullard told the station, “and they got this long stick thing, pulled the head out of the water, then they shot it. And once they reeled it all the way out, they stretched it out and measured it 13 feet long and they shot it again.”