A great white shark attacked a man as he was swimming off of Manhattan Beach in southern California Saturday. The 7-foot-long juvenile great white was hooked by a pier fisherman at the time, and the long-distance swimmer got in the way as the shark was thrashing while trying to free itself.

Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Rick Flores said that the victim suffered moderate puncture wounds to his upper right torso in the attack that occurred at around 9:30 a.m. The victim was transported to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and was conscious and breathing on his own.

The fisherman, who wishes to remain anonymous after being threatened by local surfers, hooked the great white and spent 30 minutes trying to reel it in before it attacked the swimmer, roughly 300 yards offshore. Surfers in the area heard screams coming from the group of swimmers, and were able to pull the injured man on to a board and paddle him to shore with assistance from lifeguards, after the fisherman cut the line.

Manhattan beachgoers weren’t too pleased with the anonymous pier fisherman, and the victim’s wife accused him of chumming the water to attract more fish.

That Great White Shark attacked the swimmer in California cuz some guy had been reeling him in for forty minutes. Dude. Just buy a Hummer.

— Paula Pell (@perlapell) July 6, 2014

Manhattan Beach great white attack: Was the shark provoked? http://t.co/pW8FKYyYYS

— Alisa Schwartz (@divefinatic) July 6, 2014

The shark lingered in the area of the attack for roughly 20 minutes, while lifeguards used boats to try to direct it further offshore. It then disappeared into the murky depths, according to Flores. Area beaches remained open, though a mile-long stretch was closed to swimmers as lifeguards made sure no more sharks had come close to shore.

Image via Wikimedia Commons