Thread: Swimmer killed in shark attack off Solana Beach

10:06 a.m. April 25, 2008

SOLANA BEACH – A swimmer was killed Friday morning after a shark attack off Fletcher Cove, officials said.


Sheriff's deputies said they were called at 7:20 a.m. to aid the man. A helicopter initially was sent to take the man to a hospital, but he was pronounced dead on the beach.

The swimmer, who was believed to be in his 50s, was attacked as he was swimming about 150 yards offshore, lifeguard officials said.

The man was swimming with a group of about 10 other swimmers, heading north from Fletcher Cove, when the attack occurred. The group regularly swims at the cove.

Witnesses told lifeguards that a “big gray shark” attacked the man, biting both his legs, said Craig Miller, a Solana Beach lifeguard.

“I can't remember a shark ever being in this area before,” Miller said.
The other swimmers said the man yelled and they came to his aid and saw he was being attacked by the shark, Miller said. The group swam to shore and alerted lifeguards.

Lifeguards closed beaches in Solana Beach and Encinitas after the attack.
So far, however, no San Diego beaches have been closed, San Diego lifeguard Lt. Nick Lerma said. “It happened a significant distance from us, so we're sort of status quo,” Lerma said.

Encinitas Fire Chief Scott Henry said lifeguards were posting signs at beaches and telling people to get out of the water.

The swimmers who were with the victim were taken to another location to be debriefed, said Solana Beach Deputy Fire Chief Dismas Abelman.
“They are pretty traumatized right now,” Miller said.

A Coast Guard helicopter was sent to assist lifeguards.

“It is not an active search-and-rescue,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Clinton Dotson. “We will help clear the area. . . and see if we can spot the culprit.”


The last time a shark was confirmed to have killed someone in San Diego County waters was in 1994.

The victim, 25-year-old Michelle Von Emster, went for a nighttime swim by herself in Ocean Beach April 14.

Her body, with her leg severed at midthigh, was found the following day two miles to the south, near the surfing area known as Garbage Reef.
Investigators determined she drowned after being bitten by a great white shark.

Homicide detectives were called in after people raised questions of foul play. Friends said the woman – whose body was found unclothed – would not swim alone or without a swim suit. They also wondered why Von Emster's purse was found on the bluffs above the beach, and why her clothing was never found.
Reports of a great white shark at the same spot raised alarms in 2003, two years after great white shark sightings caused a scare at the venerable surf spot at San Onofre State Beach. No one was harmed either time.

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