Dog walker found man killed by Florida alligator beside a Frisbee. Victim identified

The man believed to have been killed by an alligator at a popular Florida city park has been identified as 47-year-old Sean Thomas McGuinness, and he was a frequent visitor to the lake where he died, officials say.

His body was discovered around 8 a.m. Tuesday, May 31, at John S. Taylor Park in Largo, according to the Largo Police Department. Largo is about 20 miles west of Tampa in Pinellas County.

A trapper is searching for the alligator responsible for McGuinness’ death, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Two alligators — one 8 feet long and the other 10 feet long — were removed from Taylor Lake in the past day, but a necropsy found no evidence of human remains inside either, officials said.

A park visitor walking a dog made the initial 911 call, after finding a body “along the shoreline of Taylor Lake,” police said.

Investigators believe McGuinness had gone into the 53-acre freshwater lake looking for Frisbees when he was attacked. The park is home to an 18-hole disc golf course, and “five holes are adjacent to the lake,” according to DGCourseReview.com.

“While the medical examiner will determine the exact cause of death, it was apparent that McGuinness suffered injuries related to alligators in the lake,” police said in a June 1 update. “Detectives believe this occurred in the nighttime hours as McGuinness did not appear to have been in the lake for a long period of time before he was discovered the morning of May 31.”

The corpse was “missing three limbs,” Largo police told station WFLA.

John S. Taylor Park management reported “McGuinness was known to frequent the park and enter the lake with disregard to the posted ‘No Swimming’ signs,” police said.

“A witness also advised detectives that McGuinness was known to sell discs back to people within the park ... and McGuinness was found within a few feet of a disc in the water,” police said.

An investigation into the case is ongoing.

Alligators attacks are considered rare in Florida. The state averages “eight unprovoked alligator bites per year,” according to a 2021 report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“From 1948 to 2021, 442 unprovoked bite incidents have occurred in Florida, (and) 26 of these bites resulted in human fatalities,” the state reports.

There are an estimated 1.3 million alligators in Florida, and “they are found in freshwater lakes, ponds, swamps and slow-moving rivers in all 67 counties in Florida,” the commission says.

This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Dog walker found man killed by Florida alligator beside a Frisbee. Victim identified."