Inside Edition has obtained video footage showing the terrifying moment a 10-foot-long alligator grabbed an 85-year-old Florida woman and killed her.
The incident unfolded Monday in a Fort Pierce, Florida, retirement community. Gloria Serge can be seen walking down the bank of a lake with her small dog just outside of Spanish Lakes Fairways. The alligator then approaches the grass, with Serge seen trying to pull her pooch away. Suddenly the alligator lunges out of the water and charges at Serge, the video shows. The publicized clip is cut short just before the alligator pulls Serge into the water.
Horrifying. Florida alligator goes after woman’s dog, ends up attacking the dog and the woman, killing them both. (Video: Inside Edition) pic.twitter.com/d6mDaK2FDe
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) February 23, 2023
Inside Edition also released 911 audio of the tragedy.
“Oh my god! The alligator’s got her!” frantic neighbor, 76-year-old Carol Thomas, could be heard screaming. “An alligator has a woman!”
“How big is it?” the dispatcher asked.
“It’s a huge gator, it’s huge!” Thomas shrieked. “I don’t have anything to get to her.”
“She was walking her little dog and the gator grabbed the dog and she fell down and it took her.”
“Is she alive?” the dispatcher asked.
“Yes, she’s alive! He pulled her in! He pulled her in the lake,” Thomas said. Thomas grabbed a nearby pole to try and save her neighbor, but was unsuccessful.
“It’s too late, it’s too late! Oh my God!”
“Did he pull her under?” the dispatcher asked. (RELATED: Authorities Say 80-Year-Old Woman Fell Into Pond, ‘Grabbed’ By Alligators)
“Yes! Oh no! I was trying to stick a pole out to her and I was calling you at the same time and I- she’s gone, she’s gone.” Thomas said.
The alligator was known to the retirement community and had previously been spotted sunning on the banks of the water, according to WPBF. Authorities removed the alligator from the lake and euthanized it following the deadly attack.
“Snagged him on the bottom. He never surfaced. He stayed down the whole time,” alligator trapper Robert Lilly told the outlet. “Got a second hook in him and then a hard line in him so we could get him up.”