Flowers arrived and streams of visitors stopped by to wish the family well. Kubinski's family spent Thursday answering the doorbell and numerous telephone calls. And do not swim at dawn or dusk, when sharks feed, he said. Nevertheless, Burgess cautioned, swimmers should avoid splashing or going in the water alone. Marie Hansen of the Pinellas County Medical Examiner's Office said of Kubinski. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Dr. Worldwide, shark bites account for 10 to 12 annual fatalities. "People who go swimming in that area have come within feet of animals of similar size fairly regularly." "That shark or ones like it probably have been swimming around Boca Ciega Bay for centuries," Burgess said. The shark probably was in shallow water in search of food, he said. The crescent shape of the wound and the triangular impressions left by the half-inch-long teeth are characteristic of the bull shark, said Burgess, the marine biologist. Said Nasso's paramedic partner, 66-year-old Frank Contesso: "It seemed like it just bit and let it go." "In all the years I've been doing this, I've never in my career, my life, seen anything like this," said Sunstar paramedic Rocky Nasso, 39, who has been on the job 21 years. The shark bite, in the shape of a crescent moon, ran from his right armpit to his hip, about 15 inches, authorities said. Pete Beach paramedics Greg Fletcher and Keith Beattie pulled Kubinski out of the water and onto the dock. Pete Beach and Sunstar ambulance responded to the house, as did St. "Please hurry," she told the emergency dispatcher. Hysterical and screaming, she begged for help. Kubinski asked her son.Īfter the attack, she scrambled out of the water and ran inside and dialed 911. "Why didn't the shark take us both?" Mrs. Unable to dispel that image, she has been too distraught to talk publicly about the loss of her husband. Kubinski locked eyes with her husband, said one of the couple's five sons, Richard Kubinski, 44. "That commotion very likely was the result of a shark chasing after, or actually feeding upon something, and that splash of the victim triggered a predatory attack from the shark," said Burgess, the marine biologist at the University of Florida who traveled from Gainesville to study the attack. The couple apparently never saw the bull shark, known to eat fish, sea turtles and rays. Her husband hopped off the dock into the 7-foot-deep water. Kubinski climbed down the ladder at the end of the dock. In reconstructing Wednesday's events, officials said the Kubinskis noticed a commotion in the water moments before they went for a swim about 4 p.m. suffer through the loss along with the family." It's like losing a family member when we lose one of our citizens," said Fred Golliner, St. Pete Beach officials, who were besieged with inquiries from the public and the media, including morning television host Bryant Gumbel. The beach will remain open for the holiday, said St. Pete Beach prepared for the Labor Day weekend. He was attacked immediately after landing in the water behind his house at 4321 Holland Drive.Ī day after the Tampa Bay area's first fatal shark attack since 1981, experts theorized about what provoked the shark, the Kubinski family tried to cope with the unbelievable, and St. Kubinski, 69, bled to death from the shark bites, which crushed his rib cage and tore his liver, the Pinellas County medical examiner ruled.