BREVARD COUNTY, Florida – A Florida man on the prowl to burglarize homes was eaten by an alligator after fleeing deputies, according to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office said that 22-year-old Matthew Riggins of Palm Bay, Florida, whose body was discovered in a Barefoot Bay lake on November 23, drowned as a result of the alligator attack.
During the recovery of Riggins’ body, Sheriff’s Dive Team members encountered a large alligator aggressively approaching the area where the body was located. Due to trauma observed on the body, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission trapper was called and an alligator approximately 11-foot in length was trapped and euthanized. A forensic examination of the alligator located remains consistent with the injuries to Riggins inside the alligator’s stomach.
Investigators believe that the following events led up to the death of Riggins:
During the late evening/early morning hours of November 12-13, 2015, Riggins advised his girlfriend that he was going to Barefoot Bay to commit burglaries with another male subject.
At approximately 2 a.m. on November 13, deputies responded to the area of Tequesta Drive in Barefoot Bay after a resident called reporting that two males, dressed in black, were walking behind houses in the area. During a search of the area, two males were observed on Royal Palm Boulevard. Upon seeing the deputies, the male subjects fled on foot in an attempt to avoid apprehension.
Fucking Florida, man. I’ve always said to anyone moving here for the first time that you should never start shit with people because in The Sunshine State, you never know which psychopath has a gun and wants to use it. Like the whole Road Rage incident a few years back. The heat gets to our brains and we can’t control our tempers anymore here. Well my second piece of advice is, if you’re on the lam, don’t hide in the wilderness because something in there almost assuredly can and wants to kill you. Its not even like this kid was hiding out in marsh land either. If he was hiding in Billie Swamp Safari, he should 100% expect to get eaten by the 100 or so animals that can kill you out there. But I get the feeling he was almost in some neighborhood retention pond and still got his ass mauled to death by an 11 foot gator. That’s what he have here now self patrolling our streets I guess. Giant ass 11 foot gators in case criminals try to run and hide in residential neighborhoods. I don’t really want anyone to die, but if its a proven method to stopping criminals I’ll be sure to bring it up at the next HOA meeting, having gators patrol the streets at night in case of criminals.
The Ugly Orange 