A Texas man who was killed when an alligator attacked him during a late-night swim had mocked the beast before jumping into the marina on Friday.

Tommie Woodward, 28, ignored both the desperate pleas' of his friends and warning signs put up by employees at Burkhart's Marina in Orange when he went swimming around 2.30am at the private marina.

'He said blank the alligators and thereupon jumped into the water,' Orange County Justice of the Peace Rodney Price told KFDM 6, seeming to censor himself.

Scroll down for video

Victim: Orange police Capt. Robert Enmon said Tommie Woodward, pictured, suffered severe trauma to a limb when he was attacked early Friday morning at a private marina

Price said Woodward 'almost immediately yelled for help' after he hit the water and an unidentified woman, who was unharmed, jumped in after him.

Michelle Wright, an employee at the restaurant, saw the entire horrific scene unfold after she pleaded with Woodward not to get into the water.

'Next thing I know this girl is screaming "an alligator's got him, an alligator's got him"', Wright told KFDM 6, recalling the scene.

'I don't even know how long it was, I saw his body floating face down and then he's up there for a couple seconds and then he gets dragged back down and pulled off.'

Woodward suffered severe trauma to a limb and his body was found nearby about two hours later, according to Orange Police Capt. Robert Enmon.

'I kept...calling his name and calling his name and he just, he was dead,' said Wright about her friend. 'And it's heartbreaking.'

Danger: The owners of the marina recently had spotted a large alligator on a few occasions, and put up a sign warning people to stay out of the water, police have said

Incident: Justice of the Peace Rodney Price said it appears Woodward was bitten soon after he jumped in

The owners of the marina recently had spotted a large alligator on a few occasions, and put up a sign warning people to stay out of the water, Enmon said.

They estimated that the animal was longer than 11 feet.

The reptile could have been startled early Friday or was possibly protecting its habitat, Enmon said.

Authorities said alligators in the area had also been displaced by recent heavy rain which, combined with the fact that they're in breeding season, could make them more territorial, the New York Daily News reported.

'You've got to remember that alligators are a predatory species, they are territorial, and they will take advantage of an opportunity,' Enmon said.

Woodward was the first person killed by an alligator in Texas since 1836.

Authorities are not hunting the alligator but a private effort may be launched to capture it.

Woodward had only recently come to Orange from St Louis, making the move with his twin brother to work at a shipyard.

Scene: The private marina where the attack took place is along a bayou extending from the Sabine River near the Louisiana line