Officials released a photo showing teeth marks on a surf board made by a shark that killed a surfer in California this week.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The great white shark was at least 15 feet long, officials say
- Authorities release a photo showing teeth marks on a surf board
- 39-year-old Francisco Javier Solorio died in the attack
- Four friends were riding waves off Surf Beach at Vandenberg Air Force Base
Officials released a photo showing marks from the shark's teeth on the bottom of a surf board.
"The shark in this tragic
incident has been positively identified as a 15- to 16-foot great white
shark," the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
A shark researcher made
the determination after examining the body of Francisco Javier Solorio
Jr., who was bitten on the left side of his upper torso Tuesday, the
statement said.
The shark attacked when the 39-year-old was riding waves with three friends off a beach at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
One of the friends saw
the attack, swam over and pulled Solorio out of the water and onto the
beach, Sgt. Mark Williams with the sheriff's office said. The friend
gave him first aid while another called for help, he said.
Paramedics pronounced Solorio dead at the scene, the sheriff's office said.
In October 2010, another shark attack killed a 19-year-old college student off the same beach at Vandenberg.
That shark, described as
being 14 to 20 feet, bit off the left leg of Lucas McKaine Ransom of
Romoland, California, while he was Boogie Boarding with a 20-year-old
male friend, authorities said.
Ransom was a junior at University of California at Santa Barbara and was majoring in chemical engineering.
Surf Beach is one of
three that sit on the coastal military base and is the only one open to
the public, a military spokesman said Tuesday.
Solorio, who was from
Orcutt, just two miles from Vandenberg, wasn't affiliated with the
military base, said a Vandenberg spokeswoman.
Posts
