On Sept. 15, Arthur Medici and a friend were swimming roughly 30 yards off the shore near Cape Cod, when he was attacked by what authorities believe to be a great white shark. Medici unfortunately passed away due to his injuries in the Cape Cod Hospital.

Medici was 26 when he died. The friend he was with was his girlfriend’s brother, Isaac Rocha. They had come to Cape Cod for a weekend of boogie boarding from Bunker Hill Community College, where Medici was studying engineering. His body was flown back to Brazil where he grew up and most of his family lives.

This was the first deadly shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936, when a teenage boy was bitten while swimming. Although there have been a few attacks since then, the chances of being bitten are low. In 1996 more humans were injured by toilets (about 43,000) than by sharks (about 13) according to National Geographic.

In August another attack occurred, however this victim, William Lytton a 61-year old neurosurgeon, escaped by punching the shark in the gills. Lytton was in 8-10 feet of water when he was attacked and is now in physical therapy.

Decades ago, sharks were nearly nonexistent in the New England summer destination when seals and other prey were being poached. But due to awareness of endangered species and consideration for the environment the population, the population is growing

“Zero. No concern. We never worried about sharks, sharks were something that happened in Australia.”   Cape Cod resident Wendy Dockray said in an interview with Mashable.

Recently, Cape Cod has had a growing marine life population in general, and is becoming a new risk area. Since the poaching has gone down, sharks have moved in along with their prey. Reports say that Medici was in a black wetsuit, which experts say led to a shark confusing him with a seal.

“Pretty much every shark bite is an accident,” said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History, in an interview with the New York Times.

The beach has remained closed thus far and will remain this way as more sharks have been spotted in the water. Authorities encourage swimmers to swim with care, but fear that they aren’t heading the warnings. Life-guards were posted during the summer, but  since Labor day, there have been none on the beaches.