Photo: Facebook
Arthur Medici snapped a smiling selfie with his friend Isaac Rocha on Saturday before the pair headed into the water at Cape Cod. Rocha never could have imagined it would be the last moment he would share with his friend. Just moments later, Medici was killed in a violent shark attack.
“I already heard him screaming and I saw a lot of blood in the water,” Rocha toldToday. “I had saw, like, the shark’s tail.”
Witnesses said Medici suffered severe bites to his legs, according toToday. And Rocha said he rushed to his friend and pulled him from the water.
“I got him onto shore and he wasn’t moving anymore,” he toldTodayof Medici.
Medici was given CPR and taken to Cape Cod Hospital where he died, according to a statement on theWellfleet Police Department’s Facebook page. The attack occurred near Newcomb Hollow Beach.
The death marked Massachusetts’ first fatal shark attack in more than 80 years. The last fatal shark attack in Massachusetts killed 16-year-old Joseph Troy Jr. on July 25, 1936, according to theAssociated Press.
Rocha toldWCVBthat Medici was the more experienced swimmer of the two, noting that Medici has taught him how to “catch some waves” over the weekend. Still, Rocha swam as fast as he could to Medici when hesaw that his friend was in danger.
“I saw him go down and then I saw him go back up and saw a lot of blood and he was screaming,” he told the station. “I dragged him out of the water about 35 yards. I got him to the beach and, I was exhausted I couldn’t pull him back anymore. After that, I got the boogie board strap, his boogie board strap, and tried to tie it around his leg to stop the bleeding.”
Rocha said the death has been especially hard for his sister, who Medici was dating.
“They were thinking about marriage and all that,” he told WCVB. “It’s horrible.”
Family and friends have set upa GoFundMe pageto cover transportation and funeral costs. Relatives noted on the page that Medici was “happily engaged.”
source: people.com
