Shark attack victim Lucas Ransom to be remembered in local vigil

Late last week the Entertainer reported that a young UCSB student, Lucas McKaine Ransom, was killed in a shark off the Santa Barbara coast.

He was body boarding with a friend off Surf Beach at Vandenberg Air Force Base when a shark (likely a great white) bit him in the leg. He suffered severe blood loss and died on the beach shortly after the attack.

After conferring with a renowned shark expert, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau says it’s likely that a White Shark was responsible for last Friday’s deadly attack.

Ralph Collier, President of the Shark Research Committee and author of “Shark Attacks of the 20th Century” met with the Coroner’s detective conducting the death investigation. He examined the victim’s wound, the boogie board, and fragments of a shark tooth.

Based on witness accounts, facts gathered by the Sheriff’s Coroner’s investigation, and measuring the distance between teeth marks on the boogie board, Mr. Collier said it is likely that the Great White Shark was 17-18 feet long and possibly weighed 4,000 pounds.

UCSB students will hold a candlelight vigil tonight. The vigil will begin at 8:00pm at the open space located on the corner of Del Playa Drive and Camino Pescadero.

An ocean tribute and memorial service are planned later this week for Lucas. The viewing, rosary and funeral Mass will be held at St. James Catholic Church in Perris, CA on Wednesday. A memorial service is scheduled Thursday. In addition, at 4:30pm Thursday, friends and family will meet at the main pier in Oceanside for a tribute, at which time mourners are invited to paddle into the water to spread flowers in his honor.

Lucas Ransom went to Perris High School where he was a successful competitive swimmer. In 2007 he was highly praised for his heroic actions saving a boy from drowning while working as a lifeguard. He was attending UC Santa Barbara and studying chemical engineering.