ORANGE - A customer at a marina here who only identified himself as "Bear," on Monday said he shot and killed an 11-foot alligator he believed was involved in Friday's deadly attack on an Orange man.
The man said he set a trap from his boat with chicken as bait and caught the 400-pound reptile before he killed it with a shotgun.
"He had to go," "Bear" said. "That's what happens when you kill someone."
Game wardens cut open the animal Monday evening and found remains of Tommie Woodward's body in the animal's throat, said Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace, Rodney Price.
"Bear" and four other men were taking pictures of the alligator when game wardens arrived at Burkart's Marina in this town east of Beaumont and the men left in a boat.
The gator apparently was shot in the head and dragged from the water.
The victim of last week's attack, Woodward, 28, showed up Thursday night at the marina, located at 1802 Mississippi St., with a young woman and told the staff closing the restaurant that he was going to jump in the bayou, said Allen Burkart, who has owned the family-friendly place selling beer and hamburgers for 50 years.
Despite a warning sign that read, "No Swimming. Alligators," and the staff's admonitions, Woodward and the woman entered the water. Woodward was almost immediately attacked by an alligator and pulled under the water twice. His body was found hours later.
His death is believed to be Texas' first fatal alligator attack in nearly two centuries.
Capt. Rod Ousley, with the Beaumont district of the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, said killing an alligator is a class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $500.
The men who say they shot the animal should have called the department and waited for a game warden, Ousley said.
"It sounds like somebody just took it upon themselves to kill the animal," Ousley said.
Ousley said the meat might have rotted by the time game wardens skin the animals, but the hide will be removed and sold, he said. The animal's death also will be recorded in a database.
Woodward's cause of death is still unknown, pending autopsy reports.
Ousley said his team was investigating whether anyone alerted Texas Parks and Wildlife of the alligator's presence.
"We're still backtracking to make sure a nuisance control hunter was notified. So far in the investigation, the answer is no," Ousley said.
Capt. Robert Enmon with the Orange Police Department said Friday he suspects Woodward drowned, though his injuries were serious enough to have caused death. The cause of death is still pending.
Woodward suffered major trauma to his left arm and puncture wounds to his upper left chest, Enmon said.
Officers went out on a boat Friday at about 2:30 a.m. along with a game warden from Texas Parks and Wildlife. They found the man's body about 4:30 a.m.
Burkart said he is glad to see the animal go. He told The Beaumont Enterprise Friday he first saw the alligator a few weeks ago and put up the sign to keep people from swimming.
"A thing that big can chase you all the way out here," Burkart said pointing at the boat ramp.
