Bits and Bites from Around the World > Shark attacks on Florida and Texas coasts on July 4th

 

3 people bitten by sharks in 4th of July attacks

off Texas, Florida coasts

By Kathryn Mannie  Global News

Posted July 5, 2024 11:48 am

 3 min read

Multiple people were injured and at least three were bitten by sharks during two separate incidents at beaches in Texas and Florida as Americans celebrated the Fourth of July.

The Florida shark attack occurred at New Smyrna Beach, northwest of Orlando. A 21-year-old man from Ohio was playing football in knee-deep water when a shark bit his right foot, beach safety officials said. Thankfully, the man’s injuries were non-life-threatening, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. No further details were release.

In Texas waters off South Padre Island, a single shark has been blamed for biting two people and injuring two more.

“Details at this time indicate that two people were bitten and two people encountered the shark but were not seriously injured,” the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wrote in a news release. “The two victims who were bitten were transported to Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville where one is being treated and the other has been flown out for further treatment.”

Based on witness reports and images on social media, authorities believe a single shark measuring around 1.8 metres long was responsible for the attacks, Game Warden Capt. Chris Dowdy said.

A video taken by witness Katie McMillan shows the shark’s dorsal fin and tail fin sticking out of the water as it swam along the coast of South Padre Island. The shark appears very close to shore in the video.

View image in full screen

This image provided by Katie McMillan shows sharks near the shore on South Padre Island, Texas on Thursday, July 4, 2024. Katie McMillan via AP

Another video showed a group of Good Samaritans pulling a woman from the water and wrapping a tourniquet around her leg after she was bitten. Witness Kyle Jud told NBC News that he saw the woman being pulled from the water and called the scene “horrific.”

“Beach patrol lifted her up — her calf was just gone, shredded,” he said.

The Good Samaritans who pulled the woman from the water appear to have been two off-duty border patrol agents, according to a Facebook post from the U.S. Border Patrol Laredo Sector. The South Padre Island, where the attacks took place, is just north of a U.S.-Mexico border in east Texas.

The two border agents “pulled the shark attack victim from the water and provided lifesaving aid,” the post reads.

The other bite victim, a man, sustained severe injuries, according to Nikki Soto, the South Padre Island city secretary. The man’s current condition is unknown at this time.

Texas wildlife officials told CNN that, on top of the two people who were bitten, a third person was injured by the shark as they tried to help one of the victims. Officials did not specify how the person was hurt. A fourth person said they felt a shark brush against them while they were in the water.

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This image provided by Texas Department of Public Safety shows a shark close to the share in South Padre Island, Texas

on Thursday, July 4, 2024. Texas Department of Public Safety via AP

Nereyda Bazaldua told CNN that her 18-year-old daughter Victoria was one of the victims. Her two teenage daughters were playing on boogie boards in knee-deep water on the beach when they spotted the shark and screamed.

As Victoria came out of the water, Bazaldua said she “could see some blood coming down her leg.”

“The shark pushed into her, five to six of his teeth scratched her leg,” Bazaldua said, adding that the “wounds aren’t deep.”

The mother said the shark “showed up out of nowhere.”

“It wasn’t choppy water, and the seas were calm,” Balzadua told CNN. “We never saw the shark ‘til he was right there with them.”

Texas wildlife officials wrote in the July 4 news release that “shark encounters of this nature are not a common occurrence in Texas.”

“When bites from sharks do occur, they are usually a case of mistaken identity by sharks looking for food.”

Capt. Dowdy said the last reported shark attack in the South Padre Island area was five years ago.

Boats, drones and a helicopter were deployed to patrol the beach and officials were eventually successful in leading the shark away from the shore and into deeper water. Further shark sightings in the area have not been reported, though the U.S. Coast Guard has warned people to not go into the water off South Padre Island.

Bits and Bites > Man trying to pee in alligator's pond, loses arm

..

Was the alligator pissed-off?

Florida man Jordan Rivera, whose arm was ripped off by 10-foot gator,

was peeing in pond because bar line was too long

By Lee Brown

May 24, 2023 11:39am  Updated

The Florida bar-goer who had his armed chomped off by a 10-and-a-half-foot alligator has revealed he was mauled while peeing in a pond.

Speaking from his bed in a Fort Myers intensive care unit, Jordan Rivera, 23, told NBC2 that he only left busy Banditos Bar for a quick bathroom break in the early hours Sunday because the restroom line was too long.

“I just saw a little lake, so I was tryna go over there and take a little pee,” he told the outlet, saying he “didn’t realize how big” the pond actually was.

“Something happened where I either tripped or the ground below me kind of just went down — and I ended up in the water,” he said.

“And that’s literally the last thing I remember.”

He recalled his utter “confusion” when he awoke in a hospital bed — and was told a gator had eaten his right arm.

The 23-year-old said he “was tryna go over there and take a little pee” when he was mauled.

WSAZ NewsChannel 3

“I looked over and I saw my arm the way it was — and I was like, ‘Whoa,’” he said.

“It was the craziest thing — it was almost like out of a movie.”

Even so, he remains philosophical about his gruesome run-in, saying: “I didn’t lose my life — I lost an arm. It’s not the end of the world.”

Rivera remained philosophical, saying losing his right arm is “not the end of the world.”

WSAZ NewsChannel 3

Rivera revealed the real reason for his near-death attack in part to dispel local gossip — that he became the gator’s meal while trying to feed it Banditos bar food.

“They don’t even serve food at that bar, so I couldn’t have even served the gator food,” he said, firmly calling the rumor “completely not true.”

He also marveled at Banditos regular Manny Hidalgo — who takes his pet cat, Mr. Tom, bar-hopping with him — for rushing over to pull him to safety.

Rivera denies feeding the 10-and-a-half-foot alligator, pictured here after it was later trapped by officials.

WINK-TV

“The first thing I would do is shake the man’s hand,” said Rivera, perhaps again forgetting that he’d lost the arm he said he “kind of feels like” it’s still “just there.”

The mauled man’s mom, Teresa Lessa, also hailed those who raced to help, including Army veteran Trent Rozier, who told The Daily Sun that he used a belt as a tourniquet, kneeling on Rivera’s shoulder to stop the bleeding while they waited for him to be airlifted to the hospital.

“I call them angels,” the relieved mom said, sure they “saved his life.”

“The chance of someone being there with a tourniquet, to me, it’s a miracle that he’s here,” she said.

“Yes, arm gone, very traumatic — but he’s here.”

And, you might consider what else he might have lost in that situation.

Wildlife officials later confirmed that a 10-and-a-half-foot alligator was trapped and euthanized.

War on Christianity - Does Beheading Catholic Statues Qualify as AntiChristian?

‘We’ve seen this happening all over the country’: Statue of Jesus BEHEADED inside Florida church in alleged hate crime

A statue of Jesus has been left headless in the courtyard of a Catholic church in Kendale Lakes, Florida, after allegedly being vandalized. The Miami Archdiocese says it expects police to pursue the incident as a hate crime.

The statue of Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd had been resting behind the church for decades before meeting its end, allegedly decapitated by vandals overnight into Wednesday. 

It’s unclear who was behind the act, with church staff saying they found the statue early on Wednesday morning with its head already separated from its body, lying nearby on the ground.

Although the church is equipped with security cameras, Deacon Edivaldo da Silva told local media that CCTV footage would hardly be helpful to identify those responsible, as none of the cameras show the damaged statue.

Still, the Archdiocese of Miami believes the circumstances of the case point to foul play, rather than to an unfortunate accident. “This is not something you can trip over and say, ‘Oh, sorry,’ – Someone did this intentionally,” spokesperson Mary Ross Agosta told local media.

Agosta said that the church sees it as not merely an act of vandalism – which have been on the rise in the wake of the George Floyd protests, seeing activists toppling statues of historical figures across the country – but an “an attack on the church” that should be investigated as a “hate crime.”

The archdiocese noted the suspected hate-fuelled attack on the Jesus statue is not an isolated incident by far, stating that the Catholic church as a whole has faced an avalanche of similar attacks recently.

This is another attack on the Catholic Church which is happening across the country. Miami-Dade police have launched a probe into the incident. 

Last Saturday, a statue of Mary was set on fire in St. Peter's Parish Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts, with police saying that suspects ignited the plastic flowers the statue was holding.

On July 10, a 100-year-old statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the entrance of Cathedral Preparatory School and Seminary in New York was spray-painted with the word “IDOL”. The NYPD are investigating the incident as criminal mischief.

The ongoing spree of vandalism has swept the country amidst a spate of Black Lives Matter protests, that kicked off late May, triggered by the killing of an unarmed black man in police custody. While initially aimed at monuments to confederate generals and slave owners, the removal crusade quickly escalated, and saw activists cheering the toppling of Christopher Columbus statues and that of former US presidents.

As the onslaught on historical monuments continued, some of the most radical BLM proponents, such as racial activist Shaun King, suggested that activists set eyes on “white Jesus” statues, calling them a manifestation of “white supremacy.”

“Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down,” King tweeted on Monday. “They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been.”

Of course, there should be no statues representing Jesus. It is heretical, as are statues of Mary and anyone else in the Bible. Particularly when people kneel and pray to them. Nevertheless, it is another step in the war on Christianity which will culminate in not too many years with a full-out war against Christians.

FBI Refused to Charge Islamist Teen, Then Monday He Killed a Child, Stabbed 2 Others

In Europe, Muslims are handled with kid gloves. Their names, countries of origin, whether or not they are migrants, their colour, and especially if they are Muslim, are more often than not witheld from the press, or by the press, in order not to raise the ire of native residents. Instead, they raise the danger levels to the native population by leaving them unaware of the level of violence many of these people are capable of.

It's very concerning that Canada and the USA may also falling into this PCMadness trap. This story, however, has more to do with a complete lack of a sense of urgency by the FBI.

By Rebekah Baker
The Western Journal

A self-proclaimed ISIS sympathizer accused of stabbing three people, one fatally, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida was already being investigated by the FBI and local police before his attack. According to the Palm Beach Post, the FBI was in the process of “discussing pending federal criminal charges” against him one week before the stabbing.

Corey Johnson, 17, was arrested Monday for stabbing three people during a birthday party sleepover. He killed 13-year-old Jovanni Sierra and seriously wounded Elaine Simon, 43, and her 13-year-old son, Dane Bancroft.

Andrew Lofholm✔

@AndrewLofholm

Jovanni Sierra Brand was stabbed to death Monday morning in Palm Beach Gardens staying over at a friend’s house. His 13th birthday was Monday. They celebrated Sunday. Here’s a video of the celebration. @WPTV

According to authorities, Johnson said it was his Islamic faith that inspired the attack. He told authorities he read the Quran before going to the sleepover “to give him courage to carry out his intentions.”

Of course, in the Quran, Mohammed tells his followers to kill unbelievers.

Johnson’s radical Islamic influences and violent tendencies were not unknown to authorities, according to reports.

Fox News reported that Jupiter Police, Palm Beach County School District police and the FBI previously received “intelligence gathering” on Johnson that prompted an investigation into his “alleged violent tendencies.”

WPEC CBS12 News✔

@CBS12

Police say 17-year-old suspect Corey Johnson stabbed a mother 12 times, then her son 30+ times as he tried to save her at a home in Palm Beach Gardens.  Second juvenile, Giovanni Brand, died of stab wounds. http://bit.ly/2p85EDx 

Police reported that Johnson made anti-Semitic and anti-homosexual statements as far back as early middle school. “School police said they received information that Johnson ‘has violent tendencies,’ ‘has spoken about inappropriate places to bomb’ and ‘is a White Supremacist,'” the Palm Beach Post reported.

According to the Palm Beach post, law enforcement also learned there were several guns inside of Johnson’s home.

Johnson’s mother and grandparents also reportedly told law enforcement that Johnson was enthralled with dictators such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Kim Jong Un. They also alerted police to the fact that Johnson was interested in Islam and was reading the Quran.

The FBI initially chose not to pursue charges against Johnson. Instead, they “believed a redirection approach would be the most beneficial regarding his conduct” because he was a juvenile, the Palm Beach Post reported.

How did they arrive at that conclusion, and what was involved in a 'redirection' approach - telling him to stop?

Two years ago, Johnson made violent threats toward a Catholic high school in England.

According to an October 2016 report from the U.K. Mirror, McAuley Catholic High School received a threatening message that was sent on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. At least 100 students were reportedly removed from school in fear of an impending attack.

“We have our sights set on you and by Allah we will kill every single infidel student at this school McAuleySchoolMassacre,” the message read. The FBI later told Jupiter police that a European counter-intelligence agency investigated Johnson’s connection to the threat.

In January 2017, a police report stated that Johnson “has viewed several videos of ISIS online including beheading videos, has stated he wants to join the organization and has also reached out to ISIS via the internet.”

Ari Hait✔

@wpbf_ari

Palm Beach Gardens stabbing suspect was being monitored for extreme views. This is a police report from Jupiter PD. Corey Johnson was about to be arrested for a terrorist threat to a foreign school. @WPBF25News

Two months later, the FBI began monitoring Johnson’s computer activity. They also contacted him and demanded he stop all “social media activities related to ISIS and any other terrorist organization,” according to the Palm Beach Post.

Nevertheless, Johnson continued writing more ISIS related posts by that summer, according to the FBI.

Finally, in February of this year, the FBI stated that it had all the evidence necessary to charge Johnson, according to the Palm Beach Post. A month later, on March 5, Jupiter police reached out to the FBI to ask about the charges and when they would be made against Johnson. They were told that the “probable cause affidavits would be coming in the next several weeks,” the Daily Mail reported.

Johnson carried out the deadly attack one week later. According to the Daily Mail, he is now being held at a juvenile detention facility, and a grand jury will decide whether he is tried as an adult.