Shark bite reported on 22nd Street in Boca Grande

A little after noon on Wednesday, June 11, a child was injured by an apparent shark bite on the 2200 block of Shore Lane, according to Lee EMS alerts.

The 911 alert, which went out at 12:11 p.m., read: “SHARK IN THE WATER/KID ARM INJ; SERIOUS bleeding; ARM BY HAND.”

No one on the beach saw the shark at the time of the bite, said Chief C.W. Blosser of the Boca Grande Fire Department. The victim was transported off island by helicopter.

The EMS report described it as a serious hemorrhage.

According to Chief Blosser, this would be the first shark bite he has seen in person.

The location where it was reported is north of the Lee County public beach access at 19th Street.

The last reported shark bite at the beach in Boca Grande was in May of 2019, when the victim fell off a boat into the water in Boca Grande Pass. He had lost his balance; witnesses at the time said it appeared to be a bull shark that bit him “once on the leg near his knee.”

Prior to 2019, there had been no shark bites since July of 2005, when an Austrian visitor was bitten on the ankle while swimming in the Pass.

The Beacon will be updating this story as we gather facts.