An American alligator swimming in a swamp.
© CINDY LARSONAn American alligator swimming in a swamp.
A South Carolina woman was killed Tuesday after an alligator attacked her and her dog.

A 69-year-old resident of the Spanish Wells neighborhood of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, was reportedly walking her dog Tuesday morning near the edge of a lagoon in the area, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office.

When officials responded around 9:30 a.m., they found the woman unresponsive near the water. They were also confronted by an alligator, which was guarding the woman's body and impeding rescue attempts, the statement said.


After the gator was safely removed, officials were able to recover the body, which will be sent for an autopsy at the Beaufort County Coroner's Office. Police did not specify if the dog she was walking was also injured or killed in the incident.

The police statement notes this is the second such fatal attack to happen in Beaufort County in less than a year. The first of which occurred in August 2022 when an 88-year-old woman was attacked and killed in nearby Sun City.