Fatal shark attack off San Diego coast

Updated at 11:49

A 66-year-old man swimming in the ocean off Solana Beach was killed this morning by a shark. The attack took place about 150 yards offshore as the man was swimming with a group training for an event, reports Molly Hennessy-Fiske.

"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,” said San Diego County sheriff's spokesman Phil Brust. “They went to his aid and dragged him onto the beach, where he succumbed to his injuries.”

It's not clear what kind of shark killed the man. Officials have closed off beaches in Solana Beach and Encinitas as a precaution, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. The Associated Press is reporting that the last fatal shark attack in California took place in 2004, when a great white killed a skin diver off the Mendocino County coast.

-- Jesus Sanchez

Comments

[triumf clothing]

Surfed about two miles up the coast from it when it happened... Unheard of!

[Travis Wilcox]

I knew Dave. I met Dave In Ketchikan, Alaska last year. He came up fishing with his good friends from Southern California. As a matter of fact, we just spent some time with him at the Fred Hall Show in Del Mar last month.
The world lost an incredible human being, he will be greatly missed. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends............Capt. Travis Wilcox

[Travis Wilcox]

Dave Martin was an avid fisherman and all-around great man. He was planning a fishing trip with Big Fish Charters in Ketchikan, Alaska this summer. He will be greatly missed. I am going to go out on a limb and say that his friends will have the best fishing trip of their lives. Why you ask? They have a new eye in the sky and from my past experiences, as weird as it may sound, we always seem to have very good fishing after a loved one has fallen.
We are all still very saddened by Dave's tragic accident and I hope everybody who reads this realizes that life could end at any time. DO NOT take anything for granted and live each day to its fullest.