Shark Kills Man in Cape Cod; Police ID Him as Arthur Medici

A 26-year-old Massachusetts man was identified as the victim of a fatal shark attack on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Sept. 15, said Massachusetts State Police.

Officials told WCVB that the man was identified as Arthur Medici of Revere. He was originally from Brazil but came to the United States two years ago to study.

He died of his injuries following the attack about 1,000 feet south of Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet at around noon.

MassLive reported that Medici was boogie boarding when he was attacked by the shark, making it the first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts since the 1930s.

The Truro Police Department said all ocean side beaches in Truro will be closed for swimming due to the shark.

“Today is just keeping everyone out of water,” Wellfleet Police Lt. Michael Hurley told WCVB. “There'll be a determination later about what the town wants to do with the beaches going forward.”

“The town of Wellfleet is heartbroken by this tragedy,” said Town Administrator Dan Hoort and Wellfleet Select Board Chair Janet Reinhart in a statement.

“We send our sympathies to his family and the friends of this young man,” the statement added. “We share the grief and pain you feel. We are grateful to the family, friends, beach staff, public and first responders who worked so valiantly to save his life. Everyone who lives in and visits Wellfleet is part of the Wellfleet community. Today we lost a member of our community and we grieve his passing.”

Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.) wrote on Twitter: “First and foremost, Tevis and I send our condolences to the family of Arthur Medici, the victim of yesterday’s shark attack. Going forward, I will be convening meetings w/the National Park Service and coordinating w/state and local officials on how best to address this issue.”

Medici’s Facebook page said he was an employee of The Capital Grille in Burlington, Massachusetts, and was a student at Bunker Hill Community College.

Great white shark at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico. These fish are apex predators in temperate marine ecosystems. (Terry Goss/Wikimedia Commons)

Shark Species Unknown

It’s not clear what type of shark was involved in the attack.

Great white sharks are known to frequent Cape Cod.

“Shark attacks don’t happen as often, there has only just been a recent rise in incidents,” Chris Hargrove, who is the special officer for Cape Cod National Seashore, told NBC News. “There are more sharks because of the human population and because of the seal population, [which are] the main food source for great white sharks.”

On Aug. 27, a great white shark was sighted close to shore in Cape Cod by a father and son. Newsweek reported that the animal was 17 feet in length.

In early August, a great white was recorded on video (seen in the video at the top of the article) by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy attacking a seal off the Cape Cod coast.

“The research team recorded this close up footage of a seal predation in clear water about 100 yards from the beach off Wellfleet, MA,” said the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, according to Fox News. The video shows a “rarely seen window into the world of the Atlantic white shark in Cape Cod water,” it said.