Shark Attack Suspected in Death

S T.   P E T E   B E A C H, Fla., Aug. 31 -- A man who was swimming near his dockon the Intracoastal Waterway died from injuries caused in anapparent shark attack, authorities said Wednesday.

St. Pete Beach Fire Chief Fred Golliner said Pinellas CountyEmergency Services was called out to Boca Ciega Bay on theIntracoastal Waterway at about 4 p.m. EDT and found ThadeusKubinski, 69, already dead from an apparent shark bite.

Kubinski’s son Edward said his mother Anna told him the couplewent swimming this afternoon in five feet of water about 10 feetoff his dock.

‘Just Like the Jaws Situation’

Anna, who was too distressed to speak with the media, noticedher husband struggling with a marine animal and rushed from thewater to seek help. She told another son that she saw a dorsal finthat was “just like the Jaws situation.

“She was pretty much in a panic. She thought the best thing todo was to run and call for help,” Richard Kubinski said.

Thadeus Kubinski suffered wounds from his armpit to his thigh,and the medical examiner was to consult with an expert in marinebiology to determine if the man was in fact bitten by a shark,Golliner said.

The Kubinskis own a home on Boca Ciega Bay in this town justeast of St. Petersburg.

Edward Kubinski said his parents frequently swam in the shallowwaters behind their home, which they had lived in since 1984.

Neighbors also said that they rarely, if ever, had seen sharksin the Intracoastal’s waters.

“I’ve been working with this city for 25 years, and there hasnot been an incident involving an apparent shark attack in thattime,” Golliner said.

Staying Out of the Water Neighbor Frank Reinhart, a resident of St. Pete Beach for 36years, frequently swam in the waters near where the apparent attackoccurred.

“I don’t think I’m going to be swimming out there any timesoon,” Reinhart said.

The Intracoastal Waterway runs east of the barrier islands thatseparate the Gulf of Mexico from Florida’s mainland near St. PeteBeach.