{"id":12155,"date":"2023-07-06T11:17:14","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T15:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=12155"},"modified":"2023-07-06T11:25:25","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T15:25:25","slug":"god-was-there-13-year-old-florida-boy-escapes-alligator-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2023\/07\/god-was-there-13-year-old-florida-boy-escapes-alligator-attack.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;God Was There:&#8217; 13-Year-Old Florida Boy Escapes Alligator Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_12161\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12161\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2023\/07\/gabriel-klimis-alligator-attack-credit-fox-35-youtube.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12161\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2023\/07\/gabriel-klimis-alligator-attack-credit-fox-35-youtube.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"433\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12161\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FOX 35 Orlando\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A 13-year-old Florida boy shared his distressing story after an alligator grabbed his leg while he played with friends at a creek near Orlando. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_ph1uOfzcog\">Gabriel Klimis told FOX 35<\/a> that after he jumped from a rope off a bridge, one of his feet was on the sand, then the gator got his other foot and pulled him back.<\/p>\n<p>Once the gator grabbed his right leg, he said, \u201cI knew that if he didn\u2019t let go, there was no getting him off because his jaw was so tied on. There\u2019s no getting out of that.\u201d In an interview, Klimis, while sitting beside his mom, explained that he held onto a stick on the shore to keep from being pulled in. Gabriel said, \u201cHe kept pulling, so then I just tried to hit him, and then he let go, and I ran up as fast as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 13-year-old went to the closest house and called his mom for help. Allison Klimis said she told her son to call 911, admitting his story left her in \u201ccomplete shock. Terror, of course. Super scared.\u201d However, Gabriel appeared calm during his 911 call, telling the dispatcher, \u201cYeah, I can walk. I just got bit by a gator.\u201d He added in the call, \u201cIt just stings a bit, but I\u2019m good,\u201d saying his wound wasn\u2019t \u201cbleeding too bad, but my skin\u2019s like open pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_ph1uOfzcog\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>When the dispatcher asked about the gator\u2019s current whereabouts, he answered, \u201cI don\u2019t know. I got out of the water as fast as I could.\u201d Then, the teen was taken to a hospital, where he received stitches in his leg. Allison, a doctor, told FOX 35, \u201cIn the end, I\u2019m just blessed, grateful, thankful that the angels were watching over him and God was there because I know without that, my son could definitely be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, Gabriel said the incident won\u2019t stop him from enjoying more summer fun. He explained, \u201cIt\u2019s not going to stop me from swimming somewhere else, like in a different creek or something, with my friends and having fun.\u201d The family told FOX 35 that a nuisance trapper killed the gator after the attack, but they weren\u2019t sure if that was the one that bit Gabriel.<\/p>\n<p>In February, an\u00a085-year-old woman was killed\u00a0by a 10-foot alligator while walking her dog near her retirement community\u00a0in Fort Pierce, Florida.\u00a0And last month, a man\u2019s\u00a0arm had to be amputated\u00a0after being attacked by an alligator near a pond outside a bar in Port Charlotte, Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 13-year-old Florida boy shared his distressing story after an alligator grabbed his leg while he played with friends at a creek near Orlando. Gabriel Klimis told FOX 35 that after he jumped from a rope off a bridge, one of his feet was on the sand, then the gator got his other foot and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":12161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[997,741],"tags":[1991,1479],"class_list":["post-12155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encounter-with-god","category-faith","tag-alligator-attack","tag-florida"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&#039;God Was There:&#039; 13-Year-Old Florida Boy Escapes Alligator Attack<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"13-year-old Gabriel Klimis was swimming with his friends when a gator pulled on his leg. Luckily, he escaped and his mother is grateful for it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2023\/07\/god-was-there-13-year-old-florida-boy-escapes-alligator-attack.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;God Was There:&#039; 13-Year-Old Florida Boy Escapes Alligator Attack\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"13-year-old Gabriel Klimis was swimming with his friends when a gator pulled on his leg. 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