13-Year-Old Girl Fights Off Shark at Florida Beach

A 13-year-old girl, Ella Reed, fought off a shark in shallow water near a jetty in the Fort Pierce area on Thursday.

Here’s What Happened

The incident left her with more than a dozen stitches, according to Miami ABC affiliate WPLG.

Reed recounted the experience, stating that the shark, which she believed to be a bull shark about 5 to 6 feet long, approached her and hit her stomach hard. She punched the shark, but it came back and bit her arm, finger, and the top of her knee.

“The shark itself was so powerful,” Reed told the station. “It wouldn’t leave me alone, so I had to use my arm and put it there and use my hand too, so it got my finger and my arm right here.”

Reed called her family after the attack, and her mother, Devin Reed, was stunned by the sight of her daughter. “It was insane because she was totally covered in blood pretty much head to toe so you couldn’t really see what went on,” Devin Reed told WPLG.

According to Reed, she received a total of 19 stitches for her injuries. “I was kinda in shock about everything that happened, so I wasn’t really in pain because the adrenaline was just through the roof,” she said.

Despite the traumatic experience, Ella Reed, a Florida native, remains unfazed. “It was clear water so you never really know when it’s going to happen,” she told WPLG.

Shark attacks are rare, but they can happen.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported a total of 16 unprovoked shark attacks in Florida in 2020. Of those, 10 were in the Atlantic Ocean and six were in the Gulf of Mexico.

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