A man surfing in frigid waters off the south coast of Long Island on Sunday was pulled from the water by a passerby but later pronounced dead at a local hospital, authorities said.
Jack Shapiro, 54, was found unresponsive in the waters off Gilgo Beach by a good Samaritan around 2:15 p.m., News 12 Long Island reported.
The helpful bystander brought Shapiro, a Holbrook resident, back to shore and alerted authorities, according to Newsday. Shapiro was taken to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip, but he was pronounced dead at the facility.
Shapiro’s cause of death has not been determined, and Suffolk County police will investigate the case. He was surfing in chilly conditions on Sunday, as surface temperatures on Long Island hovered around the mid-30s all afternoon.
By Monday morning, the National Weather Service had issued a small craft advisory for all waters immediately surrounding Long Island. Across the country, including in the New York area, temperatures plummeted below freezing on Monday. Parts of Long Island saw multiple inches of snow.
Gilgo Beach is also famously where the bodies of multiple women were found starting in the 1990s until 2011, having apparently been dumped there by a serial killer. In July 2023, Massapequa Park resident Rex Heuermann was charged with several of the murders. Heuermann remains behind bars ahead of trial.
