September 17, 2018 — A man was killed by a shark off Cape Cod over the weekend in the first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936.
The man, Arthur Medici, 26, of Revere, Mass., was attacked at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet on Saturday, according to the National Park Service. He was pulled out of the water and taken to Cape Cod Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, officials said.
Officials were investigating the attack, but they suspect that Mr. Medici was killed by a great white shark.
Great white sharks, which can be up to 20 feet long, do not hunt humans but may mistake them for prey because they are about the same size as seals and other marine mammals, experts said.
“Pretty much every shark bite is an accident,” said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History. “It’s mistaken identity.”