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HERALD-TRIBUNE (Sarasota, Florida) 16 July 05 Alligator kills man in canal North Port lawn worker, 41, jumped into Port Charlotte waterway to cool off (Kristen Kridel)
Port Charlotte -- A lawn worker who jumped into a canal near the Myakka River to cool off was attacked and killed by a 12-foot, 1,200-pound alligator Friday night.
Witnesses said Kevin Albert Murray, 41, of North Port, routinely took a swim after doing yard work for the residents whose homes are along the Apollo Waterway, in a sparsely populated area near the Sarasota County line.
According to Dee Hawkins, a spokeswoman for Charlotte County Fire & EMS, neighbors had seen the alligator in the canal many times but did not think it was dangerous.
Richard and Laura Bernhard were sitting in their back yard at about 7:15 p.m. when Murray jumped off a dock into the canal and was attacked, sheriff's officials said.
The Bernhards saw the alligator pull Murray under the water. Deputies arrived a few minutes later, followed by officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who arrived at the home at about 7:45 p.m.
The commission officers were in a boat searching the canal when the alligator resurfaced, with Murray still clamped in its jaws.
The alligator went back underwater, but let go of Murray, whose body was recovered at 7:55 p.m.
The medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death.
"The alligator's first instinct when it's attacking is to spin and drown the victim," said Bo Davis, an alligator trapper with Fish and Wildlife. "In this particular incident, chomping and spinning."
Fish and Wildlife officers continued to search for the alligator in the dark, setting out buoys with hooks and meat attached to them.
Severe weather halted the search for a short time.
They discovered the alligator at about 8:45 p.m., resting in bushes near where they'd recovered Murray's body.
The officers shot the alligator with an arrow attached to a rope, pulled it closer and then shot and killed it.
Davis said the agency had received no calls about a nuisance alligator in that part of the Apollo Waterway. But it had received several calls about gators spotted a mile away.
Alligators are found in all 67 counties of Florida, but attacks on humans are rare, according to Fish & Wildlife.
As of May 2005, more than 340 attacks on humans had been documented in Florida since 1948, with 16 resulting in deaths.
The last attack on a person in Charlotte County occurred in February 2003, when an Englewood woman trimming bushes near a retention pond
Alligator kills man in canal North Port lawn worker

MIAMI HERALD (Florida) 18 July 05 Gator pulled man by arm in deadly attack
North Port (AP): Witnesses said an alligator grabbed a 41-year-old man by the arm as he swam in a canal, and the victim resurfaced only once before he died.
Kevin Albert Murray, of North Port, was swimming in Apollo Waterway to cool off after a long hot day of lawn maintenance work, The Charlotte Sun reported for Sunday editions.
Several neighbors watched as Murray was attacked Friday evening in the 17th recorded fatal alligator attack in Florida.
The 12-foot, 2-inch alligator bit off the tip of Murray's thumb, but the rest of his body was left intact in the Friday evening attack, said Tracey Hansen, a state alligator trapper.
Hansen killed the gator with two gunshots after trappers with helmet lanterns shot an arrow with a rope attached into the reptile and pulled it alongside the boat.
Murray worked for Quality Lawn Care, owned by Rick Bernhard.
''He worked for me for about three to four years,'' Bernhard said. ``But I've known him much longer. He was my friend. He was a friend to everyone.''
Murray's mother, Marge Bumblis, said her son was a strong swimmer and aware of alligators.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was investigating whether the alligator that attacked Murray had previously come into contact with humans.
Gator pulled man by arm in deadly attack

NEWS-PRESS (Fort Myers, Florida) 19 July 05 Necropsy on killer alligator planned (Joel Moroney)
A necropsy probably will be conducted today of the alligator that killed a Port Charlotte man as officials continue to investigate what prompted the attack.
The alligator measured 12-feet, 2-inches but its weight remains unknown as it sits in a freezer awaiting dissection, according to Gary Morse, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Charlotte County Sheriff spokesman Bob Carpenter said his office awaits results of the necropsy and the autopsy of victim Kevin Albert Murray before completing its investigation.
Murray, 41, died after jumping into a canal at about 7 p.m. Friday behind a residence at 13173 Irwin Drive in Port Charlotte. He may have startled the alligator when he jumped in to cool off after completing his yard work, officials say.
He was attacked almost immediately. When deputies arrived, the alligator was found in some bushes on the other side of the canal, dragging Murray's body by his right arm.
The reptile was shot with a dart attached to a rope and dragged toward officers in a boat before being shot several times in the head.
Morse said the investigation into Murray's death will take several weeks and will focus on whether the alligator was being fed.
He said other alligators will not be harmed if found in the area and should pose no threat to the community.
"When we have a gator that takes a dog or particularly one that takes a person or one at a school bus stop, that's an emergency," Morse said. "We get that alligator and it's destroyed. All nuisance gators are destroyed."
But the 1.5 million alligators in state are protected and it is a felony to otherwise kill or harm one, Morse said.
He said most alligators are shy and afraid of people.
"A nuisance alligator is created by some sort of inappropriate interaction with people over a period of time," he said. "These particular gators have behavioral changes. They stick out like a sore thumb and usually almost catch themselves because they are not afraid of people."
Murray's was the 17th fatal alligator attack in Florida since the state began tracking the deaths in 1948. He was the third local victim in the last year.
The attack comes less than a year after Roswell, Ga., visitor Michelle Reeves, 20, was killed Sept. 26 by a 7-foot, 10-inch alligator in a lake near Lee HealthPark Medical Center in South Fort Myers. That alligator was caught and destroyed by a trapper.
Necropsy on killer alligator planned