A 2-year-old Nebraska boy was attacked and dragged away by an alligator at a lake at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on Tuesday night, according to the Orange County sheriff, who said the search for the toddler was expected to continue through the morning.
The attack occurred about 9:15 p.m. on the beach area of the artificial Seven Seas Lagoon, Sheriff Jerry L. Demings said at a news conference early Wednesday. The boy was partly in the water at the edge of the lagoon with his mother, father and a 4-year-old sister when the alligator pulled him away, the sheriff said.
“The father entered the water and tried to grab the child and was not successful in doing so,” Demings said. He said the child’s mother may have also gone into the water to help. The father alerted a lifeguard, he said.
Fifty officers and two boats from Orlando-area law enforcement agencies were searching the lake and the grounds of the hotel, which is at Walt Disney World.
Demings said there was little hope the boy had survived.
“We’re not likely now to find a live body,” he said.
The sheriff did not identify the victim or his family, who he said were from Nebraska and had been visiting since Sunday. He said there had been other witnesses to the attack.
The father suffered scratches on his hand from the encounter with the alligator, Demings said.
The sheriff’s office was working with the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission to find the child. The sheriff said the search involved boats with sonar equipment, an alligator trapper and a dive team on standby.
Demings said that no such attack had been recorded at the lagoon before and that no “nuisance alligators” had been reported in the area recently.
Alligators are common in lakes in Central Florida, but attacks are relatively rare. In 2015, the area had its first reported fatal alligator attack since 2007. The body of a swimmer, James Okkerse, 61, of DeBary, Florida, was pulled from a lake in Volusia County, north of Orlando, and he was determined to have been attacked by a 12-foot alligator that was later shot and killed.
The county medical examiner found that the death of Okkerse, who had disappeared while swimming in Blue Spring State Park, was consistent with an alligator attack.
That same year, a 22-year-old man who law enforcement officials said was trying to avoid capture during a burglary, was killed by an 11-foot alligator in Brevard County, east of Orlando. The man, Matthew Riggins, had drowned, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said, and his body showed signs of having been mauled. Divers from the sheriff’s office encountered an aggressive alligator that was trapped and killed.
The attack was the latest piece of awful news for the Orlando area, just days after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub.
“We’re doing our best to deal with all of the situations we have going on here,” Demings said. “But our staff is very resilient, and tonight they’re very focused, if you will, on assisting this family.”
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