The girl's mother, whose name was redacted from the 911 call, told a dispatcher that the family had been visiting the area to swim and camp. When told by the dispatcher that it could take as long as 20 minutes for a marine unit to get to the area, the mother said, "Oh my god! My daughter is going to be f------ dead!"
But Blackmon arrived at the creek before the marine unit and he heard Broderick screaming from the tree. The alligator was hissing and wasn't scared off by the deputy's presence, according to the report.
The almost 11-foot-long gator started moving toward Blackmon so he fired at it with the rifle, the report said.
Lake County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Fred Jones says the gator sank back into the water and didn't re-emerge.
Broderick wasn't injured.
Last month, search teams located the body of a woman who vanished in South Florida. The woman was apparently dragged into a pond by a large alligator.