Shark Attack: Swimmer Bitten by 10-Foot Shark at SoCal Beach

A swimmer was attacked by a 10-foot-long shark today in Manhattan Beach, and lifeguard were using boats to annoy the creature and guide it out to sea.

A long distance swimmer was apparently bitten just before 9:30 a.m., prompting closure of a two-mile stretch of beaches in the middle of the Fourth of July weekend.

Firefighters were dispatched at 9:33 a.m. to 1011 The Strand, she said. That address is about two blocks south of the Manhattan Beach pier.

A police lieutenant with the Manhattan Beach Police Department said officers were dispatched to the scene at 9:29 a.m. on a report of  "an ocean rescue, male in the water" call to assist with crowd control.

A photographer posted photos of a swimmer being loaded into an ambulance following the 9:20 a.m. incident.

A sheriff's helicopter was at the beach, ordering people out of the water and presumably looking for the shark, according to the Hermosa Beach Patch.

A county fire dispatcher would not confirm the shark attack but did say that firefighters were assisting Manhattan Beach area lifeguards with a long distance swimmer who was injured.