DELTONA, Fla. -- A sheriff's deputy was hospitalized after he was attacked and bitten by an aggressive 8-foot alligator that was menacing a Central Florida apartment complex.

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Deputy Keith Baughman, 39, responded to calls of a large alligator loose in the parking lot of the Brightside Apartments located on Caribbean Street late Thursday.

Baughman and other deputies responded and found the alligator roaming the area.

The sheriff's office said the alligator lashed out and bit Baughman several times. However, witnesses said the deputy threw a towel on the alligator, jumped on its back and tried to wrestle it.

Baughman was thrown off the back and then bitten, witnesses said.

"His pants ripped up and blood was gushing out and everything," witness Carlos Martinez said. "He started limping away and the alligator was laughing at him. The dude then shot it twice in the head."

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said a second officer, Deputy Jason Stickles, 27, shot the alligator repeatedly.

"I said, 'Don't shoot it,'" witness Jasmin Harris said. "Just wait until the animal people come out. I don't know why they shot it in the first place. They shouldn't have jumped on it. That wasn't their job."

The alligator was hit but did not die and continued to roam the apartment complex.

A trapper eventually came out and killed the animal with a bang stick.

Baughman was reported to be in stable condition at a hospital with injuries to his thigh and knee.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.