Arthur Medici, 26, loved to surf and ride his boogie board on the waves off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Born in Brazil, Medici had come to the United States two years ago to go to college. He lived in Revere, just north of Boston, and was riding his boogie board off Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet on the Cape, having fun with his girlfriend’s brother about noon on Saturday. A great white shark hit him.
People on the beach heard him scream “shark”; they saw him kicking at the water; they saw the shark’s fin. The friend dragged Medici to the beach where people tried to make a tourniquet to stop the bleeding; others frantically called 911. First responders arrived quickly and tried to save Medici, but he was pronounced dead by the time they got him to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.
Medici’s was the first death caused by a shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936, but it was the second shark attack on the Cape in a month. On August 15 a great white shark attacked a vacationing doctor from New York who was swimming off Truro, just four miles north of the Medici tragedy. The doctor is still in a Boston hospital, recovering.
There have been a record number of great white shark sightings on the Cape this summer. And many juvenile sharks have been seen closer to shore, as they pursue smaller fish there.
Here’s more about the Medici attack, plus what you can do to protect yourself if a shark attacks:
