MELBOURNE, Fla. – Two alligators were captured and killed after a homeless man was attacked Monday in Brevard County, officials say.
The gators, 10- and 11-feet long, will be taken to a lab and examined to ensure that one of them was involved in the attack, which occurred in Crane Creek near U.S. 1 in Melbourne.
The attack was reported around 9:20 a.m. where U.S. 1 crosses the creek as it flows toward the Indian River.
The 56-year-old man, who was swimming, was bitten on the shoulder by a gator that Melbourne police said was "definitely a big one."
“He was in the river and an alligator came up and grabbed him. It grabbed him by the shoulder,” Melbourne police Cmdr. Dan Lynch said.
Police were training in the area at the time of the attack and heard what sounded like loud screams, Lynch said.
“The officers heard the screaming and found him on the bank of the river with significant gashes on his shoulder. We found him there on the shore," Lynch said.
The victim was airlifted to Holmes Regional Medical Center but is expected to survive, police said.
A man told News 6 that he saw the gator moments before the attack.
"I was standing up there on the bridge and I happened to look that way, and the head, I kid you not, was like this big," said Marc Smith Brown spreading his arms wide to show how big the 8-foot gator looked from his vantage point. "I knew if anybody was near that water they were going to get bit."
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers searched the creek for the alligator following the attack and into the afternoon.
The FWC says trappers will continue to hunt the gator until it's found.
"Alligators will stay in the general vicinity of where they're at. They're really territorial," said FWC Ofc. Chad Weber. "So we're hoping that he stayed in this area and we can locate it."
The alligator attack is one of several reported in Florida this year, including a boy who was dragged underwater and killed at a Disney World resort.
One woman who spoke to News 6 says the city should now put up gator warning signs around the creek.
"They should at least have someone come through here once in a while because there's never anyone down here," said Nicole Freeman, who fishes with her children in Crane Creek. "And now, we know for sure there are gators."