A 26-year-old Revere boogie boarder was killed in a shark attack off a Wellfleet beach yesterday that one stunned eyewitness said was “unprecedented” in its ferocity.
“I saw two guys in the water boogie boarding and one got engulfed. The thrashing was unprecedented,” Joe Booth Jr. told the Herald.
“It had to be a 10- to 12-foot shark. His buddy frantically got him out. He’s a hero because he knew what was in the water,” Booth, 33, added. “The amount of volatility was scary. He got nailed. … That shark went in for the kill and then let him go.”
Booth, who said he came to Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet to surf, watched as the shark struck about 30 feet out and “a quarter mile” down from the main part of the beach. He spotted the shark’s fin and the surf churning and instinctively knew it wasn’t good.
“I dialed 911 and then ran down the beach yelling ‘Shark attack! Shark attack! Get out of the water,’ ” he said. “It was peaceful as any day could be. The tide was coming in and the swells were 3- to 4-feet high.
“But nobody will be surfing on the Cape today,” the Mattapoisett commercial lobsterman added. “It’s bad, man. I see sharks cruising around all the time now.”
Fellow swimmers and surfers rushed the victim up the beach as first responders administered CPR, but he was pronounced dead at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. The Cape Cod National Seashore said responders were first called to the scene at 12:15 p.m.
The beach was closed to swimming for the rest of the day.
The attack is the first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936 and comes as shark sightings have kept all eyes on the surf, where seals thrive in Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet and beyond. It also comes weeks after a 61-year-old New York neurologist was attacked Aug. 15 at Longnook Beach in Truro. He is recovering from his injuries in Boston.
Another eyewitness said sharks on the hunt for seals forced him to quit teaching surfing and become a shellfisherman.
“I’ve been worried about this for a while. You see or hear about sharks every time you surf — people even see them in the winter,” said Andrew Jacob, 39, a local oysterman and dad. “I was a surfing teacher, but it’s a life-threatening occupation. It’s nerve-wracking. Oystering is much safer.”
State police spokesman Dave Procopio said the victim’s family was quickly notified. Authorities last night identified the victim as Arthur Medici of Revere.
Greg Skomal, the state’s top shark expert, said he is looking for all the data he can as he investigates the shark strike.
“I’m in a fact-gathering phase. It’s a tragic event,” he said. “The bottom line is depth plays a major role here. Seals are coming closer to the beach. That means sharks are patrolling close to the beach, and that’s when you get the overlap with humans.”
Barnstable County Commissioner Ron Beaty said it’s time to move on a solution.
“I publicly and urgently call for the formation of an official task force made up of key federal, state, regional and local officials, as well as relevant experts, to fully and completely address the Cape Cod shark problem before another human is horrifically killed by these voracious predators,” he said in a statement.
The eyewitnesses, police and first responders all stressed the heroism of beachgoers — and the victim’s companion, who Skomal said could be a brother — for running to help the victim.
His injury, appearing to be to his lower body, proved too serious, but that didn’t stop strangers from trying to save his life.
“My God, you never expected it to happen on a day like this,” Booth said of the sunny September afternoon, “but people around the beach banded together to try and save him.”
