An elderly fisherman who was attacked by an alligator last week died from blunt force injury to his left leg and drowning, a medical examiner has revealed. 

Steven Hamilton, 71, was mauled to death by the 12-foot predator beside Lake Apopka in Dr Bradford Memorial Park in front of horrified witnesses on Friday. 

Observers said that Hamilton was posing for a photograph with a fish he had just caught when the alligator leapt from the water and latched its jaws onto his limb. 

The medical examiner’s office confirmed that Hamilton suffered a fatal wound to his left leg – but he was still alive when he was dragged into the water. 

Hamilton’s cause of death was ruled as an ‘accident’, with the cause being both ‘blunt force injury of left leg and drowning’, the office told the Daily Mail. 

The gruesome incident unfolded just steps from Hamilton’s home in Winter Garden, in a busy part of the public park where he regularly fished.  

Winter Garden Police Department Captain Michael Mason said alligators are a common sight in the neighborhood, which is located 15 miles west of Orlando. 

‘Lake Apopka has tons of alligators in it,’ Mason said. ‘It’s not uncommon to see alligators in this part of town.’ 

Steven Hamilton, 71, of Winter Gardens, Florida, has been killed by an alligator while posing with his catch on the banks of Apopka Lake in Dr Bradford Memorial Park, close to Orlando

Video shows a dozen trappers wrangling the alligator that killed Hamilton from the water. Officials dragged the animal by its mouth from the lake before shooting it dead

Mason warned residents to ‘keep your distance’ from ‘local wildlife’ like gators. 

‘It looks like it’s docile, it looks like your Florida emblem,’ he said. ‘But, it can be dangerous’. 

Hamilton, who was a seasoned fisherman from Winter Gardens and a veteran musician on the Orlando circuit, died from his injuries at the scene. 

Emergency responders said recovering his body from the water was a lengthy process because several gators were circling in the lake after he died. 

Video of the aftermath shows a dozen trappers wrangling the alligator that killed him from the water. 

Officials dragged the animal by its mouth from the banks of the lake across the grass bank nearby before shooting it dead.

Florida Fish and Wildlife officials said the alligator was decapitated and its head taken as evidence. 

Florida officials said the alligator was decapitated and its head taken as evidence

Hamilton was a seasoned fisherman from Winter Gardens and a veteran musician on the Orlando circuit. He is pictured center right with his bandmates from Bone Bros Band 

Locals at the park said Hamilton was a regular at the popular fishing spot. 

‘He was out there almost every single night fishing,’ said Connor Kelley told WESH2.  

‘Every time it was a, “Hey Steve, how’s it going?” You know, just checking in.

‘He was a very kind man. Very relatable. I heard from someone else in town that he had helped her kids with fishing down there a few times.’

Orlando native Christine Pompilio said Hamilton was ‘well known in the music industry here in the Orlando area’ through almost four decades of playing in local bands.   

Pompilio, who is managing partner at Jax 5th Avenue in Lake Mary, said Hamilton used to play at the venue with Bone Bros Band. 

‘He was very, very talented, played different instruments, and would share all that knowledge with everybody that came along and joined in,’ she told WFTV9. 

It comes less than four months after 31-year-old Brittany Clark was killed by a 12-foot alligator in another nature spot just outside of Orlando. 

It comes less than four months after 31-year-old Brittany Clark (pictured) was killed by a 12-foot alligator in another nature spot just outside of Orlando

Clark had been enjoying a hike in the picturesque Little Big Econ State Forest with her boyfriend and friend when they took a dip in a river in June. 

Chilling 911 audio from the scene previously revealed how an alligator stealthily approached the trio before viciously attacking Clark by tearing off both of her arms.

A medical examiner’s report obtained by the Daily Mail also gave more details about Clark’s final moments, including how her boyfriend heroically fought the gator even as it dragged them both underwater into a ‘death roll’.  

A ‘death roll’ is a technique alligators use to subdue prey by violently twisting onto their backs before attempting to pull the victim underwater to drown them.  

The report describes how Chance Allison risked his life and eventually managed to pry his girlfriend from the gator’s jaws – but it was too late to save her. 

Alligator attacks on humans are rare in the US, according to the Florida Wildlife Commission, but alligators are more territorial during mating season, which lasts from April until the end of June.