Boy Dies in Shark Attack

Some wary beach-goers stayed on shore and authorities patrolled waters Sunday where a shark killed a 10-year-old boy, the first fatal shark attack in the United States this year.

The attack Saturday evening was the first in the area in 30 years.

“I’d rather give the shark a little time to get further down the coast,” said Debbie Morris, 39, of Virginia Beach, who refused to allow her 11-year-old daughter into the water.

David Peltier of Richmond suffered a 17-inch gash to his left leg and lost large amounts of blood from a severed artery. He died Sunday morning at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk.

David was bitten while surfing with his father and two brothers in about 4 feet of water on a sandbar about 150 feet offshore of Sandbridge Beach, said Ed Brazle, division chief for the city’s emergency medical services.

In a rescue effort similar to the one that saved 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast in Florida in July, David was freed from the shark’s jaws after his father hit the shark on the head.

Richard Peltier then carried his son ashore, where witnesses and lifeguards administered first aid. The boy’s two brothers, who also had their surfboards in the water, cried hysterically, witnesses said. The father was treated for a hand injury.

The family refused interview requests and asked the hospital not to release details about David’s injury or treatment.

The boy was planning to return to school Tuesday with his classmates at R.C. Longan Elementary. School district spokeswoman Janet Binns said counselors and social workers would be available for students.

Sandbridge Beach is a coastal community of elevated vacation homes within the city of Virginia Beach. The beach was closed after the attack, but Virginia Beach officials reopened it Sunday morning.

More than 40 EMS divers and a Jet Ski patrolled the beach, said Bruce Edwards, director of the city’s emergency medical services. The patrols were to continue today.