A 71-year-old man known for his nightly fishing routine at a local park in Winter Garden, Florida, was killed Friday when an alligator pulled him into a retention pond. The attack has left his community shaken — and raised fresh questions about how safe Florida’s waterways truly are.
Steven Hamilton was a familiar face at Dr. Bradford Memorial Park, located outside of Orlando near Lake Apopka. Neighbors and fellow anglers say he fished at the retention pond there almost every evening, often stopping to chat with others and share his love of the sport. He was killed Friday in an alligator attack that witnesses and authorities say he did nothing to provoke.
Connor Kelley, who had fished alongside Hamilton on several occasions, described him as a constant presence at the pond.
“Every time it was a, ‘Hey Steve, how’s it going?’ You know, just checking in. He was out there almost every single night fishing,”
Kelley said. Jason Handley, another park regular, echoed the sentiment:
“He was a regular that comes out here and fishes.”
Kelley said he learned the victim’s identity as he was leaving the park Friday, after the attack had already occurred.
“As I was leaving to go home, I heard someone say apparently it was an older gentleman who fishes there every night, and just immediately my stomach dropped because I was so worried it was Steve, and it turns out it unfortunately was,”
he said.
Kelley remembered Hamilton warmly, describing a man who was generous with both his time and his knowledge.
“It just shows that he was a very kind man. Very relatable. I heard from someone else in town that he had helped her kids with fishing down there a few times,”
Kelley said.
Winter Garden police confirmed Hamilton was fishing at the time of the attack and did not survive. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officials said a trapper later removed a nearly 12-foot alligator from the water. Handley captured the moment on video, saying,
“Yeah, he’s got him. He’s got him.”
A Neighbor’s Warning
Just minutes from the park, a resident along Lake Apopka had already been sounding the alarm. Emily Porto said she spotted a news helicopter overhead Friday and feared immediately what it might mean.
“I went on live, and it was there, and I said, ‘Oh no. That can’t be happening.’ And I warned them,”
she said.
Porto’s concern was not unfounded. Last month, her 8-year-old Samoyed dog, Stormi, was killed by an alligator in the lake. She shared a photo she says shows Stormi in the gator’s jaws and displayed records of phone calls she made to FWC’s nuisance alligator program in the aftermath.
Although a trapper was dispatched following her dog’s death, Porto said the alligator responsible was never caught. She says additional alligators have since been seen near her property, and trappers have returned to the area multiple times. Porto is now calling for more aggressive removal efforts.
“They cannot, when I call, they cannot just tell me that, you know, any body of water in Florida, it can have a gator. I understand that. The gator took my dog offshore. The gator took the man yesterday offshore. They are hunting. So they are becoming very aggressive. They are fearless, and we have to care about people,”
Porto said.
For Kelley, the loss of Hamilton serves as a sobering reminder of the risks that come with spending time near Florida’s water — even in familiar, seemingly safe spots.
“He was not someone that, you know, was harassing any alligators or anything like that. It was just a very unfortunate event that happened and a very sober reminder of, you know, how just mindful to be around water in Florida,”
he said.