Alligator kills person in South Carolina after dragging them into retention pond

A person in South Carolina was killed after being dragged into a retention pond by an alligator near Myrtle Beach on Friday, authorities said.

This is the first deadly alligator attack in the state since May 2020, according to authorities.

Once officers arrived on the scene, officials determined that "an alligator had taken hold of a neighbor and retreated into a nearby retention pond," a statement from the Horry County Police Department said.

A biologist and a contracted alligator removal service from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources determined the alligator should be humanely euthanized on site, according to police.

Initially, the Horry County Fire Rescue was dispatched at 11:54 a.m. to a water-related call in the area of Excalibur Court in Myrtle Beach, a statement from the department said.

At 2:30 p.m., the department updated its statement to confirm there was no further threat in the area, and that community members may resume normal activities.

However, at 5:46 p.m., the HCPD released a statement that the Environmental Services and Criminal Investigations Divisions were working on a death investigation.

"Our hearts go out to the family and community members impacted by this tragic incident," a statement from police said.

Police said the victim, whose identity has not been released yet, was recovered from the pond and the alligator was removed.

The HCPD said its death investigation remains underway.

The HCPD and the Horry County Coroner's Office did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

The Horry County Fire Rescue Department told ABC News it had no further information as of Monday morning.

Fatal alligator attacks are typically rare in the United States, with the Center for Disease and Prevention reporting that alligators killed only 10 people in the Southeast from 1999 to 2019.

However, this is the second fatal attack in a month. A Florida man was killed by an alligator while retrieving frisbees from a lake in Largo on May 31.

According to police, the victim, identified as Sean Thomas McGuinness, 47, was believed to have entered the lake at night. The following day, a person walking their dog discovered McGuiness' body along the lake's shoreline.

The last fatal alligator attack to occur in South Carolina was in May 2020, when a 58-year-old woman saw an alligator and went to touch it, despite her friend's warnings, according to The Post and Courier.

The victim, identified as Cynthia Covert, was dragged into a pond behind her friend's home on Kiawah Island, near Charleston, and said calmly, "I guess I won't do this again," as her friend tried to pull her away from the alligator. Covert was pulled under the water shortly after, the report read.