Mother Posts Picture of Her Son Playing in the Same Spot Where a Boy Was Killed by an Alligator

A mother from Massachusetts has gone viral after posting a picture of her 3-year-old son playing in the exact same spot where one hour later an alligator attacked 2-year-old Lane Graves.

Jennifer Venditti posted the picture in hopes that people will stop criticizing Graves’ parents and instead come to their defense.

“I’ve already seen posts criticizing the parents. I can assure you alligators were not on my mind at all when Channing was in the water. It’s a tiny beach, surrounded by pools, water slides, a restaurant and a fire pit. I can’t conceive that an alligator would be in such a busy, small space,” Vendetti shared on Facebook.

The picture shows Venditti’s son Channing playing in the same location of the attack between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m. The attack on Graves happened around 9:00 p.m.

Venditti isn’t the only one defending Graves’ parents. Many parents are sharing photos of their children playing at the exact beach where Graves’ was attacked, further supporting the theory that it really could have been anyone.

Writer Kristen Howerton posted a photo of her daughter’s playing in the sand sharing, “It’s easy to throw other parents under the bus when something terrible happens because we want to believe ourselves better. We want to comfort ourselves with the idea that our superior parenting could prevent a tragedy; that bad things could only befall an incompetent parent. But the truth is, bad things happen to good parents, and they deserve our empathy, not our judgement.”

Janice Croze shared a picture of her daughter, Olivia, standing in the edge of the lagoon from a trip in 2012.

“If anyone wants to judge those parents for letting their toddler play near the water at Disney World, here is Olivia playing on that beach. There were tons of children and adults wading at the water’s edge. Never did any of us think there was any danger at all! This is a bizarre, horrific accident. That family deserves our prayers and empathy. It could have been any of our children,” Croze wrote.

Blog writer Melissa Mitchell also shared a picture of her son explaining, “It could have been me, because I’m not a perfect parent.”

Vendiiti’s post has been shared over 208,000 times (at time of publication). Read the full post below.