Alligator Attack Kills Man At Texas Marina — Tommie Woodward Is The First Fatality In 200 Years

In 1836, a man in swam across the Trinity bayou in Texas and was attacked by an alligator. The man was killed, his death written into the history books to stand as the state’s only such fatality for 200 years.

That is until the early morning hours on Friday, the St. Louis Dispatch reported.

At about 2:30 a.m., Missourian Tommie Woodward, 28, and a girlfriend concluded an evening at the bar at Burkhart’s Marina at Adams Bayou by going for a swim. Local Justice of the Peace Rodney Price told KDFM what happened next.

The girl remained on the dock while Woodward took off his shirt and shoes to the sound of bystanders screaming warnings at him not to jump in. A sign nearby warned: “No Swimming: Alligators.” Tommie jumped in anyway, and he was in the water barely a minute when he was attacked by an alligator. The girl jumped in when he screamed for help. She said something brushed against her — possibly the alligator’s tail — but she wasn’t hurt.

The same can’t be said for Woodward, unfortunately.

“We were begging him not to do it,” said Allen Burkart, 82, who has owned the marina for half a century. Allen was still shaken up when he spoke to the Houston Chronicle.

“He went under one time, then he hollered at her to get out of the water. Then he pulled him down the second time and that was it. I’ve been here all my life and this is the first time something like this has happened… I’m still in shock.”

Marina staff had seen the estimated 12-foot long alligator in the bayou in recent weeks, and put up that warning sign to prevent anyone from being attacked in the water.

Tommie’s body was found two hours later. When he was attacked, he suffered a severe wound to an unspecified limb, the Dispatch reported.

An alligator attack is rare, accounting for the 200-year span between fatalities in the state. But in recent weeks, alligators have been displaced into the area by heavy rains, at a time they are also at their most dangerous. It’s breeding and nesting season.

Just last week, a 13-year-old boy and his dad were attacked in another Texas county. The boy was bitten on the arm and pulled underwater; when his dad dove into the water to save his son, he was bit on the leg. Both survived — the father is being released from the hospital soon, but his child will remain there a little while longer.

As for Tommie, he grew up in Pacific, Missouri, and left the area to find work with his twin brother several years ago. They settled in Texas recently.

He’s being remembered as a generous person on Facebook, where someone posted a statement saying he “loved fishing, swimming, camping, grilling… Hardworking and helped people even if he had to give them the shirt off his back!”

No one is officially searching for the alligator that attacked the Missouri native, but evidently a private effort may be pursued.

[Photo Courtesy Mark Wilson / Getty Images]