An accomplished surfer and occasional actor has died after being fatally injured in a shark attack off the island of Oahu in Hawaii, authorities said. Tamayo Perry, 49, was also a professional lifeguard for Ocean Safety for the City and County of Honolulu.
Perry was attacked while surfing near Goat Island Sunday afternoon, Shayne Enright of the Honolulu Department of Emergency Services said Sunday during a news conference broadcast by CBS affiliate Hawaii News Now.
Honolulu Ocean Safety and the city’s fire, police and emergency medical services responded to Mālaekahana Beach on Oahu’s North Shore shortly before 1 p.m. after a caller reported seeing a surfer who appeared to have suffered shark bites and was fatally injured, Enright said.
Rescuers brought Perry to shore by jet ski and paramedics helped pronounce him dead, Enright said.
Perry, who worked as a lifeguard on the North Shore, began his career with Ocean Safety in July 2016, Enright said.
Ocean Safety staff posted warnings about sharks in the area after the attack, Enright said.
BRIAN BIELMANN/AFP via Getty Images
Acting Honolulu Ocean Safety Chief Kurt Lager, also speaking at the news conference, said Perry was “a lifeguard loved by all.”
“He’s well known on the North Shore. He’s a professional surfer known all over the world,” Lager said. “Tamayo’s personality was contagious, and although people loved him, he loved everyone more.”
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi echoed those sentiments, describing Perry as a well-respected “legendary waterman.” He called the death a “tragic loss.”
Perry first made a name for himself in Hawaii and beyond in the early 2000s, when other athletes began to take note of his distinctive skills, particularly when it came to free surfing on the North Shore pipeline, Surfer Magazine reported after his death. He then made a career in Hollywood, making appearances in the film “Blue Crush” in 2002 and the fourth installment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise in 2011. Perry also appeared in a 2011 episode of the television series ” Hawaii.” Five O’s.”
John Sullivan, an actor who worked with Perry on an episode of “Hawaii Five-O,” called Perry “the nicest guy on Oahu.”
“He spread positivity everywhere he went,” Sullivan told CBS News on Monday.
Deadly shark attacks doubled in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to the International Shark Attack File, a database that tracks reported shark attacks around the world. One of two fatal incidents reported in the United States last year occurred in Hawaii, although shark attacks occurred most often in Florida.
Authorities warned residents of Florida and Hawaii to remain vigilant earlier this summer after a series of shark attacks occurred in both states on the same day, CBS News national correspondent Manuel reported Bojorquez. In Florida, two teenagers and a woman were attacked by sharks in separate incidents several miles apart along part of the Florida Panhandle. Meanwhile, in Hawaii, a woman was seriously injured in a shark attack off the coast of Oahu.
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