Fatal Florida shark attack: ‘Jaws’ shark may have killed

The longtime water sports enthusiast Stephen Howard Schafer died while kite boarding off the coast of Stuart, about 100 miles north of Miami, on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010.

Surfer killed by sharks
Reportedly, Stephen was surrounded by multiple sharks and killed about one-quarter mile offshore. The kite-boarder had bruises on his arms, indicating he tried to fight off the swarm of sharks during his final moments.

The 38-year-old victim reportedly was pulled to the shore off Stuart Beach on the Atlantic Coast, and was pronounced dead at the Martin Memorial Medical Center, as per local reports.

Victim suffered multiple wounds
AOLNews.com reports that Stephen was struggling in deep waters when lifeguards saw him, looking through binoculars, in trouble. Upon reaching, they saw him surrounded by sharks in the water. By the time he was rushed to shore, his heart had stopped.

"He was just hanging onto his board -- not normal activity for a kite surfer," Daniel Wouters of Martin County Fire Rescue told ABC News' West Palm Beach affiliate WPBF. "Normally, the wind comes and they pick back up and they go off, but he had been hanging onto his board."

A 47-year-old lifeguard Daniel Lund told The Associated Press: "I get to him, I'm probably within 20 yards or so from him, and there's just a lot of blood in the water."

Lund told the AP that he could see several sharks circling nearby.

Multiple bites
"When [paramedics] got there, they found a number of sharks in the water, and they found the victim had been bitten several times," said Wouters.

Citing the Sheriff's Office’s report, ABC News reports that the kite surfer had 8 to 10 inch bite wounds on his right thigh and multiple "teeth marks" on his right and left buttocks.

The report also said Stephen had bruises on the inside of his right arm and wounds on his hand that appeared to be "defensive wounds" he suffered while trying to fight off the feeding predators.

Incident is rare
According to George Burgess, a leading shark expert who directs the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida's Museum of Natural History, swimmers and surfers often receive minor bites in Florida waters, but fatal attacks like these are extremely rare.

Stephen was the first person killed in a shark attack in Florida in five years, and only the 14th since 1896. The last fatal shark attack in Florida was in 2005, when a 14-year-old girl was killed in Miramar Beach. The Florida kite-boarder is the 14th shark death in Florida state’s history.

Probe to determine the species of culprit sharks
Meanwhile, the authorities are investigating what types of sharks were involved in the fatal attack. Scientist Grant Gilmore believes that young great white sharks, made infamous by the Academy Award-winning 1975 film "Jaws," are among the suspects.

To determine the culprit, Gilmore said he and colleagues could compare characteristic bite patterns from among many shark species that live or visit Florida's Atlantic coast.

"It can be done," the scientist said. "It would be nice to have closure on this, to know what it was, especially since the man, tragically, died."