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Man mocks alligators, jumps in water and is killed in Texas

CNN reports a man who mocked alligators, then jumped in the water — despite warning signs — is dead after being attacked in Texas.

Orange County Police were called to Burkart’s Marina near the Louisiana state line early Friday morning after reports that Tommie Woodward, 28, and an unidentified woman were swimming in a bayou and had been attacked by a large alligator.
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Woodward pictured above

Woodward’s body was found several hours later. The woman was not injured.

There are numerous “No Swimming Alligators” signs posted around the bayou. Woodward even ignored several verbal warnings before saying “f**k the alligators” then removing his shorts, taking his billfold from his pockets, yelling “cannonball!!” and cannonballing into the water.

Woodward yelled almost immediately for help as a 10-foot alligator attacked him.

A witness heard a man yell “a gator’s got him!”

Woodward pleaded for help “somebody shoot this thing! It’s eating me!”

In an emotional interview with KFDM, a witness, Debbie Wright, said, “I saw his body floating face down. And then he’s out there for a couple of seconds and then he’s dragged back down. And then he comes back up still face down and then he gets pulled down again. And then he just disappears.”

Wright, who said she knew the victim and his family, said it was a moment she would never forget. She described the events as “heartbreaking.”

Woodward had recently moved to the area from St. Louis with his twin brother and was working at a nearby shipyard.