East Texas teens share account of witnessing Florida shark attack

MOUNT PLEASANT, Texas (KLTV) – On Tuesday, a group of recent Mount Pleasant and Sulphur Springs high school graduates shared firsthand accounts of a brutal shark attack on the Gulf Coast in Walton County, Florida that happened on June 7. Many in the group jumped into action to help the terrified and injured swimmers, crediting instinct and God’s plan for their quick response.

“No one wants to witness that, but I know that we were there for a reason,” said Mount Pleasant graduate Ella Cross.

What was supposed to be a relaxing last day on their senior beach trip quickly turned into chaos as the group of beachgoers heard screams erupt from the water and saw an ominous fin splashing right in front of them.

“I look up and I see all these girls just, like, rush towards us or just, like, just rushing, and I’m like, ‘what is going on?’ and then the next thing I see is, like, the little, like, shark tail going, like, back-and-forth, back-and-forth,” said Mount Pleasant graduate Abigail Gutierrez.

Soon after, Gutierrez said she saw blood spreading in the water. Two of the girls in the group, Kate Monk, a Sulphur Springs High School graduate, and 21-year-old nursing student Carson Zachry ran into the water to offer help.

It was there they were approached by one of the victims of the attack.

“She just kind of lifted her foot up out of the water and that’s when we saw that she had been bitten on her lower leg and on her foot, and so I just think that was when we knew we had to act,” said Monk, who is also a certified clinical medical assistant.

“I just remember, like, yelling, ‘someone get me a towel!’ I just knew that we had to wrap her leg up just to kind of contain the bleeding.”

Others in the group recalled a strong urge to offer comfort through prayer.

“There was one girl who was coming out of the water – first girl I made eye contact with – and she was panicking, and it was really scary, and I just remember I wanted her to know to know I was talking to her, so I, like, reached for her face and I grabbed her face, and I was like, ‘if you will let me, I would love to pray over you, like, let’s pray,’ and she was like, ‘yes, yes,’” said Mount Pleasant graduate Ali Fair Cheek.

Amanda Hutchings, the CTE Health Science teacher at Mount Pleasant High School, taught several of the young ladies in the group.

“This generation gets such a bad rap for entitlement, and ‘they don’t care,’ and they could do whatever, but this – what they did – it definitely tells about their character more than anything,” she said, exuding pride for the quick thinking of her students.

When asked what was the biggest lesson learned from that day, Ali Fair Cheek said, “I do think tragedy leads to community. I think when something happens that makes you realize something is more important than yourself and you can help other people, I think it, like, leads to community.”

As soon as the survivors of the attack, including Lulu Gribbins, are well enough to see visitors, the group of young East Texans plan to visit Birmingham for a happy reintroduction.

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