Shark attack on Alabama teen inspires the start of a national alert
system
[July 03, 2026]
By KIM CHANDLER
Lulu Gribbin was 15 when she survived a shark attack off the coast of
Florida. She lost her left hand, part of her right leg and almost her
life.
What she didn’t know when she entered the water on that day in 2024 was
that another woman had been bitten by a shark 90 minutes earlier and
just 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) down the beach. Had she known about the
earlier attack, there is no way she would have been swimming, she said.
Gribbin’s story has inspired new federal legislation to authorize
emergency alerts to mobile phones to warn beachgoers when a shark has
bitten someone in the area.
President Donald Trump last week signed “Lulu’s Law,” which requires the
Federal Communications Commission to allow the emergency messages. The
legislation, which Gribbin advocated for, authorizes the warnings by
classifying a shark attack as an event for which an emergency alert can
be issued. It is up to states to implement the warnings. Gribbin’s home
state of Alabama approved such a warning system last year.
“It’s really just common-sense legislation. It says that whenever there
has been a shark attack in a certain area where you are near, it will
send an alert to your phone, exactly like how an Amber Alert system
works when a child is abducted,” she said.
Gribbin said she hopes the alert system will help prevent attacks like
hers. “I definitely see this law working in the future and I'm really
excited to hopefully save lives,” she said.
A fight to survive
Gribbin was one of three people bitten by a shark on June 7, 2024, off
the Florida Panhandle.
She was on a mother-daughter trip to the Florida Panhandle. Gribbin said
she and her friend had been diving for sand dollars.
“All of the sudden my best friend yelled, ‘Shark!’ and so we all started
swimming for our lives,” Gribbin recalled. She said she remembered that
sharks are attracted to frantic splashing and yelled for everyone to be
calm. Gribbin, who was closest to the shark, was bitten.
“The shark bit off my hand first, and I raised my arm out of the water,
and there was just flesh and bone there,” Gribbin said. The shark then
latched onto her leg. A man punched the shark off her and strangers on
the beach rushed to help. She was flown by helicopter to a nearby
hospital.
Doctors were able to save the teen's life but had to amputate part of
her right leg.
Choosing positivity throughout her recovery
In the hospital, Gribbin made a deliberate decision to choose joy and to
never give up.
She initially struggled knowing, “that I only have two regular limbs,
and that my life would be completely different.”
“I would cry, and I would ask my mom, ‘Why is it happening to me?’ And
on that day, we put a Bible verse on my bedside table that said, ‘With
God, all things are possible.’ And then she told me that what you look
like doesn’t define you, it’s who you are on the inside. And so, I think
that stuck with me throughout my whole recovery the past two years.
It doesn’t matter what I look like, as long as I’m spreading positivity
and inspiring others to stay strong and to never give up,” she said.
Gribbin was fitted with prosthetic limbs, quickly regained her ability
to walk, returned to sports and got her driver’s license. She has gone
back in the water and learned to surf, meeting Bethany Hamilton, a
professional surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack.
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, the Alabama Republican who sponsored the
legislation, said the fact that Gribbin was bitten soon after an attack
on another woman prompted discussions about what could have been done
differently. That led to the idea of an alert. She contacted Gribbin's
parents who had thought about the same possibility.
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A sign warns beachgoers about sharks at Lecount Hollow Beach May 22,
2019 in Wellfleet, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
“If there had been any type of alert that was given, that there’s no
way that Lulu would have been in the water. And so we talked about
how a simple change could have made a huge impact,” Britt said.
Shark bites remain rare
While sharks are commonly found in the waters off the United States,
shark bites are rare, said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida
Museum of Natural History’s shark research program.
There are between 60 to 80 known unprovoked bites worldwide each
year, he said. It's extremely rare that two or more people are
bitten in close proximity. He said in a database of known shark
bites, called the International Shark Attack File, there have only
been a few instances of multiple bites in a single day.
“If somebody is bitten by a shark, and then an alert goes out, the
probability that another person’s going to be bitten by a shark
within, let’s say, two or three hours is incredibly small,” Naylor
said.
When that happens, he said it’s likely because of environmental
conditions such as sharks following schools of bait fish closer to
the shore. Murky water conditions can also be a factor because they
increase the chance that a shark will mistake a person for a fish or
seal.
In the area where Gribbin was bitten, there are about 20 to 30 bull
sharks 1,312 feet (400 meters) offshore at any time, Naylor said.
Great white sharks have been spotted more frequently in the chilly
waters of New England and Atlantic Canada, according to conservation
groups. A smartphone app called Sharktivity also allows shark
spotters to report their sightings.
The sightings might unnerve people, but Naylor said it's important
to remember that shark attacks are rare.
“If sharks wanted to eat people, we’d have about 10,000 bites a day.
The fact that we have so few is basically testament to the fact that
the sharks are doing their level best to avoid people, not to target
them,” Naylor said.
Britt said she believes parents and others on the beach will want
the information. “I know as a parent, I want every tool in my
toolbox to be able to keep my child safe,” Britt said.
Another survivor praises the alert system
Braxton Rocha, who was bitten by a large tiger shark off the north
shore of the Big Island of Hawaii, said he liked the idea of an
alert system. He thinks it is information that people, particularly
tourists to the island, will want to know.
Rocha was spearfishing in 2015 when he saw the large shark. “Looked
like a bus or submarine. She was the biggest thing I’d seen in the
ocean at that time,” Rocha said. He started making his way to shore.
When he looked back to check where the shark was, the animal was
right in front of him. He tried to push the shark away, but the
animal was too big and powerful. It latched onto his leg. Rocha
punched it in the nose and the shark let go and swam away.
“Everything happened so fast. It was almost like being struck by
lightning. I was still kind of out of it. I looked down and see
giant clouds of blood just bursting out of my leg,” he said.
It took nearly 100 staples to repair the gaping wound on his leg.
But the experience did not dampen Rocha's enthusiasm for the ocean
and wildlife. “I’ve always loved sharks,” Rocha said.
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