ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- An eight-foot alligator caused a huge scare Tuesday in an Orange County neighborhood. Trappers and police were called to Robinson Street and Link Avenue (see map), west of downtown Orlando, after residents spotted the large reptile in their neighborhood.

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People who live nearby think the alligator came from Lake Mann, located a block south of Robinson Street and Link Avenue.

A neighbor saw the large reptile in an empty lot around 7:30am Tuesday morning and immediately called police. Officers then called trappers and kept an eye on the alligator until they arrived.

The gator didn't go down without a fight. Teenage trappers made several attempts to capture the eight-foot animal. After 15 minutes, one of them crept up from behind and jumped on the alligator's back. The other then tied the alligator's mouth shut with tape.

"Just thank God no children were coming or going. That's what I was afraid of, because they catch the bus here. They'll catch it early in the morning when it's dark. They would not have seen the gator there," said eyewitness Ed Gardner.

The trappers managed to remove the gator from the neighborhood. They said they were going to check with the state to see if the reptile would be killed or released elsewhere.