A South Carolina man was killed after being dragged into an alligator detention pond near Myrtle Beach on Friday, authorities said.
This is the first deadly alligator attack in the state since May 2020, according to authorities.
After officers arrived on the scene, officers found that “an alligator had caught a neighbor and retreated to a nearby detention pond,” a statement from the Hori County Police Department said.
A biologist and an agreed alligator removal service from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources have determined that the alligator must be humanely euthanized on the spot, according to police.
A man died after an alligator attack in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on June 24, 2022. The victim was removed from the lake, and the alligator was removed and euthanized on the spot.
WPDE
The Hori County Fire and Rescue Service was originally dispatched at 11:54 a.m. on a water-related call in the Excalibur Court area of Myrtle Beach, the department said in a statement.
At 2:30 p.m., the department updated its statement to confirm that there was no more threat in the area and that community members could resume normal activities.
However, at 5:46 p.m., the HCPD issued a statement that the environmental services and criminal investigation departments were working to investigate the death.
“Our hearts are with the family and community members affected by this tragic incident,” a police statement said.
Police said the victim, whose identity has not yet been revealed, was found by the lake and the alligator was removed.
The HCPD said the investigation into his death was ongoing.
The HCPD and the Hori County Coroner’s Office did not immediately respond to ABC News’s request for comment.
A man died after an alligator attack in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on June 24, 2022. The victim was removed from the lake, and the alligator was removed and euthanized on the spot.
WPDE
The Hori County Fire and Rescue Service told ABC News that there was no further information as of Monday morning.
Fatal alligator attacks are usually rare in the United States, with the Centers for Disease Prevention reporting that alligators killed only 10 people in the southeast between 1999 and 2019.
However, this is the second fatal attack in a month. A Florida man was killed by an alligator while fetching frisbee from a lake in Largo on May 31.
According to police, the victim, identified as Sean Thomas McGuinness, 47, entered the lake at night. The next day, a man walking his dog found McGuinness’s body on the shore of the lake.
The last fatal alligator attack in South Carolina was in May 2020, when a 58-year-old woman saw an alligator and went to touch it, despite her friend’s warnings, according to The Post and Courier.
The victim, identified as Cynthia Covert, was dragged into a pond behind her friend’s home on Kiawa Island, near Charleston, and said calmly, “I guess I won’t do it again,” as her friend tried to pull her away from an alligator. Shortly afterwards, Covert was pulled out under the water, the report said.
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