Alligator Possibly Bit Missing Florida Teen, Dragged Him Under Water

A teenage boy went missing shortly after he was seen in a pond in Orange County, Florida, screaming that an alligator bit him, and a search and rescue team was deployed in the area to find him.

According to CBS News, the Orange County Sheriff's Office received a call about in the afternoon from a man who said he witnessed a 15-year-old boy flailing about in the pond yelling, "It bit me! It bit me!"

Orange County Sheriff's Office public information officer Jeff Williamson said the only witness of the incident — a man named Eric Wolfe — was credible. The witness in question was in his backyard when he heard a noise from the lake. He reportedly rushed back into his house, grabbed his binoculars and came back outside. That is when he saw the victim in the lake.

"Basically, I heard, 'It bit me' and a lot of screaming," Wolfe said, local news outlet Click Orlando reported. “I had eyes on him the whole time and relayed his position to dispatch, and he went underwater and didn't come up.”

However, in the absence of a confirmation it was indeed an animal attack, the police said they will be treating it as a case of missing person and a possible drowning.

Although the residents near the area have reportedly spotted a six-foot-long alligator in the pond, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officer Chad Weber said it could not be verified whether the reptile was involved in this incident.

“Right now, we’re just assisting the Orange County Sheriff’s Office with a potentially missing person. We’re not even sure if there’s an alligator involved,” Weber said, local news outlet Orlando Sentinel reported.

Nevertheless, alligator-removal units also responded to the scene apart from more than a dozen emergency vehicles, several helicopters and air boats.

“We’re in a search and rescue operation. We are scanning the water with sonar devices from our marine unit,” Williamson said. “So far we have not seen anything. We will be out here until we do see something or until the sheriff gives us the command to leave the scene.”

Deputies also questioned people living in the neighborhood, but none of them reported a teenage boy missing.

While the police were unable to find any trace of the missing boy, authorities located the alligator in the pond, which they determined was too small to hurt a teenage boy.

David Gensler, who claimed he lived in the neighborhood for 10 years, said he had seen another alligator in the pond which was at least 15 feet in length.

“It’s bigger than my little John boat,” he said.

He also added people would often fish for catfish in the pond. Even Wolfe was of the opinion there was more than one alligator in the pond.

"Put two and two is pretty good," Wolfe said. "There's four alligators in this lake. An eight-foot alligator is usually around where [the teenager] was in and when he screamed something bit him, you can only assume it was an alligator."

Williamson said "it could be days, literally," before the victim is found or the search is called off.