**DATELINE: SAN DIEGO, CA – OCTOBER 14, 2023 (FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)**

DATELINE: SAN DIEGO, CA – OCTOBER 14, 2023 (FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)

HISTORIAN COMPARES PACIFIC BEACH SHOOTING TO 1916 SHARK ATTACKS: “WE ARE IGNORING THE REAL PREDATOR”

In a chilling analysis that has gone viral, Dr. Eleanor Vance, a historian from UC San Diego, has drawn a stark parallel between last night’s mass shooting in Pacific Beach and the infamous 1916 Jersey Shore shark attacks that inspired “Jaws.” Her conclusion? The shooter is the shark—but we keep blaming the ocean.

In 1916, panicked officials closed beaches and slaughtered hundreds of harmless sea creatures. Today, after a man with an AR-15-style rifle killed seven people at a seaside taco festival, pundits are again focusing on the surface-level “rogue element.”

“In 1916, we thought the danger was the water itself,” says Vance. “We didn’t realize that the real terror was one specific bull shark—and that we kept swimming in its feeding ground. Today, we’re debating ‘bad waves,’ but ignoring the deep current: a legal framework that turns neighborhoods into hunting grounds.”

Vance points to a little-known historical pattern: Every major American mass shooting since 2012 in a coastal tourism hub shares a 0.7-mile radius threshold from an armory or gun show. Pacific Beach is no exception.

The algorithm sees it. The NRA calls it a conspiracy. But history calls it a pattern.

As the city mourns, Vance warns: “We are in the 1916 moment of gun violence. We’re closing beaches while the shark is already ashore—and we gave it a ticket.”

#HistoryRepeats #SanDiegoShooting #TheSharkIsTheGun