1 Dead In Myrtle Beach Alligator Attack

View Of Alligator In Water

Photo: Getty Images

A Myrtle Beach resident was dragged into a pond and killed during an alligator attack Friday (June 24) morning, the Horry County Police Department announced in a Facebook post.

"HCPD Environmental Services and Criminal Investigations Divisions are working a death investigation in which an alligator killed a community member," the department wrote.

Horry County Fire Rescue responded to a water rescue call in the area of Excalibur Court outside Myrtle Beach at around 11:45 a.m. and HCPD, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Section and SCDNR Law Enforcement Division assisted in the response.

Responding authorities initially determined that the alligator took hold of a resident who was near the edge of a retention pond and dragged the person in.

A South Carolina Department of Natural Resources biologist and alligator-removal service both "determined that the alligator should be humanely euthanized on site," the department confirmed in its Facebook post.

Horry County Police are continuing to investigate the death of the resident and have not revealed their age or gender as of Sunday (June 26).

A guide published by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources reports that approximately 100,000 alligators are present in South Carolina and "agent trappers harvest approximately 250-300 problem alligators annually in" the state.

Earlier this month, a seven-foot alligator attacked a man on the Gulf Coast of Florida, who mistook the reptile for a dog, NBC News reports.

In 2020, Cynthia Covert, 58, was attacked and killed by an alligator on Kiawah Island, South Carolina, which was the third recorded fatal alligator attack reported in the state's history, following the 2016 death of an elderly woman found in a retention pool and the 2018 death of Cassandra Cline, 45, on Hilton Head Island.


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