7-foot gator captured at Tampa middle school

A Tampa middle school had a scaly visitor this morning as an alligator prowled the school grounds before being captured.

The roughly 7-foot gator was discovered about 7 a.m., just as students started arriving at Stewart Middle School on Spruce Street.

Sixth-grade science teacher Marc Pellicano spotted the gator as he got out of his car in the parking lot.

"I didn't really stand there and look too much," he said. "I was kind of going into action, making sure it didn't get to anybody and no one got to it."

Pellicano called to another teacher to call police and school administrators.

The alligator remained in the breezeways and stayed in front of the cafeteria, the Tampa Police Department said.

That's where teacher David Rocca ran into the gator.

"Here he comes, walking around the corner," Rocca said nonchalantly, "Walked right down here and then he stopped."

Rocca first made sure any students who had classes near where the alligator prowled were sent to the library or other safe rooms.

Staff members then coaxed the gator into a nearby boys' bathroom.

"We were surprised that it was simple for us to get him locked in," Principal Baretta Wilson said with a laugh, "because at that point, we were all deciding which way we were going to run!"

Police called a trapper about 7:30 a.m., and a game officer removed the gator to a rear parking area by the time the trapper arrived shortly after 8 a.m., said Gary Morse, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Rocca said that's when the gator started to get angry.

"He was never aggressive. The only time he was assertive was when they put the noose around him," he said. "He got kind of mad."

The trapper removed the gator.

The school is about 100 yards from the Hillsborough River, Morse said. Several closed fences separate the school from the river, and the alligator may have come on school grounds last week and spent the weekend at the school, Morse said.

Principal Wilson said the school recently restored the waterfront, and removed brush and other plants blocking the school from the water. She thinks the gator had a clear path to walk up to the building and probably crawled under a fence.

She said the gator taught staff an important lesson.

"We're going to look at how we secure the fence, making sure that's secured," she said.