There are gators pretty much everywhere in that part of Florida. We had one in my suburban north east florida neighborhood last year.
We have them in the creek behind my old homestead. Thanks to the Feds who introduced them. Bastards.
I’ve got them in my back yard. They keep the stray dog population down so that’s OK because stray dogs rip into pens and kill livestock, while gators pretty much mind their own business. But if I had a toddler, that kid wouldn’t be anywhere near the water because gators aren’t particular about what they eat and are darn near impossible to see in pond vegetation.
A lot of people just shoot the big ones until the kids grow up enough to have some situational awareness.
They found a seven foot gator in a drainage ditch 30 miles south of Memphis in North Mississippi just two weeks ago