A large alligator with a dead human body in its jaws was spotted swimming in a Florida lake.
Lakeland Police department received a 911 call from an assisted living community where someone saw the reptile, estimated between eight and 10 feet long, with an adult male human in its mouth.
On arriving at the scene, police officers saw the alligator responsible and later stated the man had been dead for more than a day.
Officers do not yet know how the man died or if the alligator had killed him.
Sergeant Gary Gross from Lakeland Police told WLFA: "The officers got here and the alligator still had the person. He let the individual go, he is deceased, looks like this person may have been dead more than a day
"We don’t want to speculate but I will tell when the officer got here the alligator did a roll and had the person in contact with him.
"The officers immediately got their firearms out in case the gator comes up. Once he left they didn’t want him coming back and pull the body back out, that did not happen."
After the alligator released the body, police were able to pull the body from the water.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Officers along with "gator trapper" Scott Barbon are searching the lake for the reptile predator.
Sgt. Gross added: "The main thing now is if they trap the gator to try to figure out if they can do a test on that gator and see if there’s any human parts in that gator’s stomach."
Lakeland Police are investigating the man's identity and have not released any other details,
