UPDATE: Experts Say Great White Killed Student
Written by
KEYT Anchor
Story Created:
Oct 22, 2010 at 9:29 AM PST
Story Updated:
Oct 25, 2010 at 4:30 PM PST
Vandenberg - It's official. Experts say it was a Great White Shark that killed local student Lucas Ransom last Friday.
After conferring with a renowned shark expert, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau says it’s likely that a White Shark was responsible for the deadly attack off Surf Beach.
In a statement received by Key News from the Sheriff's Department:
Ralph Collier, President of the Shark Research Committee and author of “Shark Attacks of the 20th Century” met with the Coroner’s detective conducting the death investigation this afternoon. The Coroner’s detective briefed Mr. Collier on his findings and allowed the shark expert to examine the victim’s wound, the boogie board, and fragments of a shark tooth.
Based on witness accounts, facts gathered by the Sheriff’s Coroner’s investigation, and measuring the distance between teeth marks on the boogie board, Mr. Collier said it’s likely that the White Shark (more popularly known as a Great White Shark) was 17-18 feet long and possibly weighing 4,000 pounds.
The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau last investigated a fatal shark attack in December, 1994 when a scuba diver was killed off San Miguel Island. There are no other records of shark attack deaths investigated by the Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau. Collier says there have only been 12 authenticated fatal shark attacks on the west coast of the United States since 1950.
19-year-old Lucas Ransom, a UCSB student, died Friday morning when the shark bit off his leg while he paddled some 100 feet from shore. The massive wound caused him to bleed to death.
Candace Ransom said she last spoke to her son just before he went surfing. In an interview with the Associated Press she said her son told her he was "going to surf sets of 8- to 10-feet at a beach that was new to him". She then encouraged him not to go in the water.
“I said, ‘Honey, if they’re so pretty why don’t you just sit and watch them. You’re at a place you’ve never been to before.’” He said, ‘Mom, don’t worry, I’ll be fine and I’ll call you when I finish up.’”
An eyewitness at the scene that morning called the KEY newsroom around 9:20 a.m. saying the victim "had his leg bitten off and lost too much blood." That source also told KEY News the victim was pulled to shore by a friend, but efforts to stop the bleeding were unsuccessful.
That friend, Matthew Garcia, was surfing two feet from Ransom, when the shark attacked. "When the shark hit him, he just said, 'Help me, dude!' He knew what was going on," Garcia told The Associated Press. "It was really fast. You just saw a red wave and this water is blue, as blue as it could ever be, and it was just red, the whole wave."
Garcia then reportedly tried to find Ransom in the surf but couldn't. He then went for help but looked back and saw Ransom's red bodyboard pop up. Garcia swam to his friend and did chest compressions as he brought him to shore.
"He was just floating in the water. I flipped him over on his back and underhooked his arms. I was pressing on his chest and doing rescue breathing in the water," Garcia said. "He was just kind of lifeless, just dead weight."
KEY News has obtained photos of the board, which shows a large bite in the side.
Ransom was a junior majoring in Chemical Engineering. He attended Perris High School. At one time he worked at a Murrieta community pool as a lifeguard in 2007, and was honored by the City of Murrieta when he and two other lifeguards saved a young boy’s life.
The last known attack at Surf Beach took place back in September of 2008. A surfer reported having his board bitten by a shark. A fatal shark attack occurred at Avila Beach in 2003 killing Nipomo resident Dorborah Franzman. Officials confirm that attack was by a Great White shark.
Stay with KEY News for the latest information on this shark attack.
