Harriet Brewis
Jun 30, 2024
AccuWeather / VideoElephant
A man was attacked by a monster shark in front of his poor wife in what she later described as something straight out of Jaws.
Thadeus Kubinski, 69, was out for a swim with his spouse Anna in the shallow water behind their home in Florida’s Boca Ciega Bay, when he decided to jump off the dock.
This seemingly innocuous decision was, ultimately, to cost him his life, authorities later confirmed.
The splash from his plunge attracted a nine-foot-long bull shark that was feeding in the water, the Tampa Bay Timesreported following the tragedy which occurred in August 2000.
Bull sharks are notoriously agressive and typically live near high-population shorelines, making them – in the eyes of many experts –the most dangerous sharks in the world.
And the attack on Kubinski is further proof of this assessment.
Bull sharks are considered the most dangerous in the world(iStock)
The 400-pound (181kg) colossus bit down at least twice on Kubinski's right side, in front of Anna who was forced to watch on helplessly.
Because she was not a strong swimmer, Anna had climbed down the ladder at the end of the dock rather than leaping into the 7-foot-deep water as her husband had done.
Moments before they went for their dip, at around 4pm on that fateful afternoon, the couple had noticed a “commotion” in the water, officials said.
However, they thought nothing of it, and didn’t spot the bull shark lurking below the surface.
"That commotion very likely was the result of a shark chasing after, or actually feeding upon something," marine biologist George Burgess, of the University of Florida, later explained.
“And that splash of the victim triggered a predatory attack from the shark.”
Horrifyingly, Anna locked eyes with her husband at the moment the predator bit, according to one of the couple’s five sons, Richard Kubinski, who was 44 at the time.
He said she also saw a dorsal fin in the water, describing it “just like the Jaws situation.”
She allegedly asked her son later: "Why didn't the shark take us both?"
In the attack's immediate aftermath, Anna scrambled out of the water and ran inside their home, which stood directly beside the water, to call 911.
Paramedics rushed to the scene and pulled Kubinski out of the water, but he was already dead.
The shark bite was around 15 inches (38cm) long, running from his right armpit to his hip in the shape of a crescent moon, authorities later said.
Local paramedic Rocky Nasso, 39, who had been on the job 21 years, later told the Tampa Bay Times: "In all the years I've been doing this, I've never in my career, my life, seen anything like this."
Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings
Top 100
The Conversation (0)