'Burglar' at door turns out to be alligator

TAMPA (FOX 13) - What one family thought was a burglar turned out to be a 5-foot alligator knocking on their door at 4 a.m.

It happened at the Sable Ridge apartments in Tampa, which is just the other side of the fairgrounds.

"I came out this morning; my mom woke me up out of my sleep.  It sounded like someone was trying to break into our house, our door; like someone was hitting the handle.  She looked out the peephole and all she saw was police," Dyaniqua Lillie recalled.  "Come to find out, it's a 5-foot gator in front of our door."  

Tampa police and Florida Fish & Wildlife caught the gator shortly after, and will now return it to the wild.

"I've never seen anything like this before," Lillie added.  "I see it happen everywhere else, but when it happens to you, you're like, 'Wow, that's insane.'"