Law enforcement body has released a new camera footage which shows shocking moments after a 41-year-old Florida woman was killed by a 14-foot-long alligator. The incident took place in September 2023.
Footage obtained by Fox 13 from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) shows rescuers arriving at a roadside canal in Largo, Florida, and shooting the alligator with a rifle.
A passerby, Jamarcus Bullard, was the first to see the grisly scene and alerted police when he saw what he thought was an alligator with body parts in its mouth.
“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,” Bullard told the station of the incident at the time.
The victim was later identified as Sabrina Peckham, a homeless woman who lived in a makeshift camp less than 50 feet from the canal in Pinellas County. Her family had last seen her the day before the fatal encounter.
“Up over here is the camp where her ID was found,” an FWC officer can be heard saying on the footage as he inspects the trash-strewn campsite. “There doesn’t appear to be any signs of an alligator having come up in here.”
Officers pulled the alligator out of the canal using ropes and chains and had to cut it open to recover some of Peckham’s remains.
The fatal encounter occurred in McKay Creek, which connects Ridgecrest and Taylor lakes. The latter was drained at the time as part of a maintenance project.
In 2022, a man, who dove into Taylor Lake to retrieve a Frisbee, was killed by an alligator.
The area where Peckham was killed is now surrounded by fences and signs.
