LOS ANGELES (AP) – An expert has determined that a surfer was killed off California’s Central Coast by a 15- to 16-foot great white shark.
Ralph Collier of the Shark Research Committee examined the body of 39-year-old Francisco Javier Solorio Jr. of Orcutt before making the determination Wednesday.
The surfer was bitten in the upper torso in the waters off Surf Beach in Santa Barbara County on Tuesday.
He died at the scene despite a friend’s efforts to save him.
Surf Beach is at Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles. It was also the site of an October 2010 fatal attack.
All beaches on the base coastline were closed for at least 72 hours as a precaution.
