A surfer was bitten by a shark in Cocoa Beach, and the following day the surfer’s brother was bumped by a shark in the same location. Both incidents were caught on film.
Keller Shogren, 17, was surfing the north side of the Cocoa Beach pier Jan. 2 when he was bitten by a shark. The avid weightlifter has been surfing off the pier, which does not allow fishing, for the last five months.
Around 10:30 a.m. the amateur surfer paddled out to join the lineup about 700 feet from the beach.
“There were around 30 surfers on the outside and I caught a wave, and I went to turn and I fell off,” Shrogren told Tracking Sharks.
“A second after I fell off, I felt a quick rush of water coming toward my right foot. It was so fast, it was unavoidable.”
At first Shrogren was not sure what hit him.
“I thought I might have hit a rock or a log,” he said. “Then I was like ‘Oh crap, it was a shark!’”
He grabbed his board and rode it boogieboard-style back to the beach.
Once on the sand, he yelled to his friend that he was bit and the two walked to the lifeguard stand on the south side of the pier.
Lifeguards bandaged his right ankle and his friend took him to urgent care.
Doctors used 6 stitches to sew up the deepest of the 12 tooth impressions and the 1 1/2-inch slash on his ankle.
Despite the injury, the incident will not keep him out of the water, although the doctors said he can’t hit the waves until he has healed.
“I’m not too worried about going out again. A shark can always be in the area and you might not even realize it. It almost feels like a freak accident more than an attack,” he added.
The following day, in a strange turn of events, his brother was surfing the same area when he was also hit by a shark.
Tucker Shogren, 19, was sitting on his board approximately 40 feet from the beach next to the north side of the pier as he watched the waves break.
Around 10:30 a.m. he was hit on his right leg by an estimated 4- to 5-foot-long shark. The hit knocked the Florida Atlantic University Surf Club president into the water.
Shogren quickly walked back to shore in waist-deep water and found some minor damage to the tail of his board.
Despite the damage, he was back in the water 10 minutes later and has even more respect for sharks.
“That shark was shorter and weighs less than me and knocked me off a board in such a swift motion. It deserves respect,” Shogren said.
Cocoa Beach has had several shark interactions in 2020.
Jaedyn Wagner, 15, was surfing the south side of the pier when she hopped off her board and hit a shark that bit her right foot. Wagner stayed calm and used her left foot to kick the shark, which swam away.
Kylee Orona, 12, was wading in knee-deep water July 20 when she was bitten on the right foot.
On July 16 an off-duty police officer pulled a child from the path of a shark.
All locations have been marked on the 2021 Shark Attack Map.
