Friend used a shovel to try to stop alligator attack that left woman dead, SC cops say

A 57-year-old South Carolina woman was dragged to her death by an alligator despite efforts from a neighbor to rescue her by hitting the animal with a shovel, according to a Charleston County Sheriff’s Office report.

Cynthia Renee Covert was visiting a friend’s house at Kiawah Island on Friday, May 1, when she spotted an alligator in a pond near the home. Covert “appeared not her normal self,” the friend told police, and decided to approach the alligator.

Covert’s friend, Barbara Howell, yelled to her, telling her to get away from the alligator, according to the report. Covert was about four feet from the water’s edge when the large predator lunged out of the water and attacked, police said.

Howell called 911, and her husband ran out to the pond with a shovel and started striking the alligator, which continued dragging Covert back into the water, the police report said.

“(Howell) stated her friend never screamed,” the report said.

Deputies arrived just before 5 pm.

As they moved to surround the pond, the reporting deputy wrote that he saw the alligator surface with Covert and dive back under. It resurfaced again and one of the deputies shot the alligator, hitting it four times and killing it, the report states.

The deputies pulled Covert and the alligator out of the pond.

There were at least two other alligators at the scene that “posed no threat to first responders.”

Howell’s husband told deputies “he tried to do everything he could to save the victim,” and that another neighbor had also stepped in to help, the report says.

This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 2:58 PM with the headline "Friend used a shovel to try to stop alligator attack that left woman dead, SC cops say."