[I wasn't surprised by the shark attacks in Florida. Having been to Florida fairly frequently during my New Orleans days, I knew from the start that sharks swim in those warm Gulf waters--and perhaps in those Atlantic waters off Mayport and Miami too. But in the five or six years I lived in Norfolk and the scores of times I visited Virginia Beach, it never once occurred to me that there was any danger from sharks. This fatal attack is an aberration. Now I'm wondering about the number of Florida attacks--are they really normal, as some experts suggest? Or is something else going on?]

Virginian-Pilot

Father pulled boy from shark but wound proved fatal By MATTHEW ROY, The Virginian-Pilot © September 3, 2001

Richard Peltier, left, of Virginia Beach, pried the shark's jaws off his son David, right, and carried the gravely injured boy to shore. Family photo.

VIRGINIA BEACH -- A 10-year-old Richmond boy, wrestled from the jaws of a shark by his father, died of his wounds early Sunday -- the first such fatality in the United States this year, and the first shark attack in Virginia in almost 30 years.

David Peltier died at 3:45 a.m. at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk, the third hospital to treat him in the hours since the 6 p.m. Saturday attack.

Officials are still trying to identify which species of shark bit David, who was surfing in the 3600 block of Sandfiddler Road on Sandbridge. The attack severed a main artery in the boy's left leg and caused him to lose a large amount of blood.

On Sunday morning, Virginia Beach officials began flying helicopters over the waves near beaches crowded with Labor Day weekend tourists, searching for signs of trouble and hoping to reassure visitors.

Officials said they saw no signs of other sharks.

Saturday's attack was the latest in a string of shark attacks along the East Coast. So far this year, there have been 38 attacks, most of them in Florida.

It was Virginia's first shark attack of the year, and only the fifth recorded in history.

It began as the sun started to sink west of the spit of land in southern Virginia Beach.

David and his father, Richard Peltier, were in the water along with two of David's brothers. Richard Peltier spotted a shark lurking in the clear water, about 50 yards offshore, and shouted a warning to the boys.

He helped David onto his surfboard as the two older boys struck out for shore.

According to witnesses, the shark brushed Peltier's leg, then lunged and attacked David. From shore, bystanders watched Peltier, a welder, strike at the shark frantically.

It looked like he was beating the water.

``He finally stuck his hand in its mouth and pried its jaws open,'' said Paul Rowlen, a family friend.

Richard Peltier freed his son and paddled to shore with the gravely wounded and bleeding boy.

Witnesses could see blood in the water and said the boy appeared to have wounds from his hip to his calf. One of the wounds was described as 17 inches across.

Peltier, his own hand bleeding from wounds, comforted David for several minutes on the sandy beach as lifeguards raced over from a nearby beach and emergency medical personnel arrived.

``He wasn't panicking,'' said Rex Carter of Fairfax County, a witness. ``He was talking to his son the whole time, telling him he's going to be OK.''

``He kept him calm,'' said 16-year-old Niki Runion. ``He never left his side. He would not get up.''

James Peltier, David's uncle, said he was not surprised that his brother fended off a shark and rushed the boy to shore.

``He's very strong. He always has his head about him in emergencies,'' he said.

The 10-year-old, who loved sports, spent most of the year in a middle-class neighborhood in western Henrico County, near Richmond, with his mother, Carol Miles.

They lived on a dead-end street in Glen Allen, a street bounded by brick ranch homes with station wagons in their driveways, typically filled with bicycles, balls and playing children. He would have returned Tuesday to R.C. Longan Elementary School.

``He's just the sweetest child you'd ever want to meet; got along with everybody, was not a troublemaker,'' neighbor Cheryl Gorman said. ``Just a nice child to be around. Very easygoing, happy-go-lucky, pretty blue eyes. Always called me Mrs. Gorman.''

The boy spent much of his time with his father and other family members who live in Virginia Beach, where he loved to surf and fish.

``He wanted to surf every day,'' James Peltier said.

City beaches opened as usual Sunday amid reassurances from officials that they were doing everything they could. City police helicopters buzzed overhead; Virginia Marine Science Museum Curator Maylon White joined a helicopter survey looking for sharks before 7 a.m.

Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf expressed sympathy for David Peltier's family. She asked that city staff take all precautions to safeguard swimmers.

Officials said they will resume flyovers this morning.

News of the attack spread swiftly through the city, which has 28 miles of public beaches.

At Sandbridge, a quieter beach south of the city's Oceanfront, crowds parked as usual along Sandfiddler Road.

The sun shone, and temperatures climbed into the 80s.

A few surfers rode waves around noon. Swimmers splashed in knee-deep water, with some venturing deeper.

Brandice Miller, 18, of Shanksville, Pa., dried off with a beach towel depicting various species of sharks.

``I never was worried in the water before,'' said Miller, who has long been fascinated with the fish. ``Today, I was a little bit nervous.''

``We've been coming here for 22 years now,'' said her father, Roger Miller, wet from a swim just yards from where the boy was attacked. ``It's one of those things.''

Carter, who witnessed the attack, was content to remain on the sand Sunday. ``You know that lightning won't strike twice in the same place, but better safe than sorry,'' he said.

Carter had been swimming with a friend near the Peltiers when the shark attacked.

``It very well could have gotten us,'' he said, his face turning serious.

Shark attacks are extremely rare, experts say.

Around the world, 49 attacks have been reported this year. One person was killed in Brazil, according to the International Shark Attack File in Gainesville, Fla.

Thirty-eight of this year's attacks were in the United States; 28 were off Florida, including a July attack in which an 8-year-old's father also punched a shark to free the child. Before the attack on David Peltier, none of the U.S. attacks were fatal.

Last year, there were 84 shark attacks worldwide, 53 in the United States.

Local officials could not recall the last attack here. A search of local newspaper records turned up two reports.

In 1973, a 17-year-old boy was treated for bites to his arm and hand off False Cape, south of Sandbridge, while crabbing. In 1956, a 13-year-old girl was treated for foot wounds from a suspected shark attack off Virginia Beach.

Shark attacks are extremely uncommon in Virginia waters, said George Burgess of the International Shark Attack File. The ocean off Virginia is generally too chilly for sharks and people to spend a lot of time in, he said. Only five attacks have been recorded in Virginia.

Several varieties of shark can be found swimming off the Virginia coast this time of year, he said, including bull and tiger sharks and the smaller sandbar and sand tiger sharks.

The shark involved may have been a sandbar shark, according to one official. File photo.

There may be no way to tell for sure what species was responsible for Saturday's attack, said White, the Marine Science Museum curator. It may have been a sandbar shark, he said.

The museum will try to get photos of the wounds in hopes of gaining clues about what species attacked David, museum spokeswoman Alice Scanlan said.

Experts say that shark attacks often take place at sunrise or sunset.

``In dirty water, at dusk, things moving around can be mistaken,'' said John Graves, chairman of the Department of Fisheries Science at The Virginia Institute of Marine Science. ``The shark may have been coming in to feed in a normal pattern, and a shaking leg may have attracted it.''

Bull and tiger sharks are thought to be responsible for many of the attacks on people, Burgess said. That's because they can grow quite large, swim in shallow waters and feed on larger prey, such as sea turtles. These sharks may mistakenly identify people as food and ``bump and bite'' them, he said.

``Unfortunately, children are smaller and are more easily confused with prey,'' Burgess said. ``But a fatal attack in Virginia waters is just not normal. It's not necessarily the warmer water. There's no sure explanation as to why.''

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2001