A six-foot long alligator came close to the entrance of a Florida Wal-Mart over the weekend ABC News reported Monday.
"It was a nice size gator, just chilling," shopper Robin Watkins who was in the store with her kid told CBS television station WKMG.
Customers were welcomed by the animal early Sunday, just after midnight. The store remained open throughout the ordeal, and the surrounding vicinity was blocked off by the Apopka Police Department therefore reducing the size of the crowd which had formed to view the spectacle, and take pictures.
Store employees eventually secured and locked the location's front door so the gator would not come into the store, and instead follow the commands of responding officers who attempted to lead him away from the business.
However, the alligator went off to the back of the store until it was found by a "trapper" or animal control professional, who was brought in to subdue the animal. No injuries were reported.
"Our main concern was keeping the people safe," officer Steven Popp told ABC News.
The species was then put in a retention pond by the store, until it was caught Monday.
"He'll be put down, unfortunately," Karen Parker, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told ABC News. "It looks like he has lost the fear of people, and we don't want to take the chance of him hurting anybody."
According to inquisiter, the latest incident is the second one in the last two years. The previous case involved two small alligators who were discovered in a supermarket parking lot in Long Island, N.Y. over a two day period.
The species were caught, and then transported to a wildlife sanctuary in Florida.
Alligators were once considered an extinct and endangered species, but have made a return.
