Shark kills man off San Diego County coast
The victim, a 66-year-old triathlete, was with a group of swimmers off Solana Beach when he was attacked by what an expert says was likely a great white. Authorities close a stretch of beaches.
SOLANA BEACH -- A shark attacked and killed a 66-year-old triathlete this morning, biting his legs as he swam in a group off this beach city 20 miles north of San Diego, authorities said.
Authorities identified the man as Dave Martin, a retired veterinarian who has lived in Solana Beach since 1970.
Richard Rosenblatt, a shark expert and professor emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, told reporters that "this almost certainly was a great white shark." He said the attack fit the pattern of attacking from beneath, then moving away, and that the wounds also looked like they came from a great white shark.
Shark attack: Some editions of Saturday's Section A carried an incomplete version of the article about a deadly shark attack in San Diego County. The missing information included the full name of a professor of marine biology quoted in the story. He is Richard Rosenblatt. The top of the story is reprinted in today's California section, and the full story is available at www.latimes.com/sharkattack
Martin, Rosenblatt said, was "pushed out of the water in a violent attack, and that's just typical of great white feeding behavior -- that is, they normally feed on seals, come up from below, take a powerful bite, then rush away and wait for other animals to come back."
The swimmers were wearing wetsuits.
"We think it was mistaken identity" because sharks hunt based on "silhouettes," Rosenblatt said. "A human swimmer is not too unlike a seal."
The attack occurred about 7 a.m. near Fletcher Cove in an area known as Table Tops, said Lt. Phil Brust, a spokesman for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.
Martin was part of a group from the Triathlon Club of San Diego that swims every Friday morning in the Fletcher Cove area. He was on the group's scheduled 6:30 a.m. swim.
"They were swimming and the victim apparently yelled 'Shark,' or words to that effect, and the witnesses that were in the water apparently saw him actually being lifted out of the water and drug under," Brust said. "They went to his aid and dragged him onto the beach, where he succumbed to his injuries."
The attack reportedly took place about 150 yards offshore. Martin was among nine people swimming north when he was attacked, Sheriff's Sgt. Randy Webb said. Martin surfaced and began screaming. Four other swimmers helped him to the beach, where lifeguards performed CPR. A helicopter was called to take him to a hospital, but he was declared dead on the beach. Three volunteers arrived to provide grief counseling to other swimmers, Webb said.
Martin was declared dead at approximately 7:50 a.m.
The shark bit him on both legs, said Deputy Solana Beach Fire Chief Dismas Abelman. Martin had apparently separated from the rest of his group when he was attacked, he said.
