Terrifying moment great white shark attacks diver’s camera off SoCal

A Southern California filmmaker got the scare of a lifetime when a great white shark suddenly lunged at one of his cameras and chomped down on it during a recent excursion off the coast.

Carlos Gauna, known on YouTube as The Malibu Artist, was out filming in late April when the terrifying close encounter unfolded underwater, according to KTLA.

“I’ve been around them a lot,” Gauna told the outlet. “They don’t normally come at you like that.”

Gauna, who frequently documents great whites from a kayak with several cameras and a drone, captured the shocking moment from multiple angles.

“It depends on the day, but I typically like to have three cameras going, an aerial drone, and a couple cameras on the kayak and maybe even one on my person sometimes,” he explained.

Video from the encounter shows the giant predator darting straight toward the camera before violently clamping down on it underwater.

Moments before the bite, Gauna said he had temporarily lost communication with the friend operating the overhead drone, leaving him unsure where exactly the shark was circling beneath the surface.

“Not knowing where the shark is, and I look back, and the shadow of the shark is right there,” he recalled. “By the time I got comms with him, all I can hear is my buddy yelling, ‘He got the camera! He got the camera!’”

Despite the shark being only feet away, murky underwater conditions made it difficult for Gauna to track the animal.

“I did feel the tug, and then I saw the splash afterward,” he said. “It bit down on it and cracked it.”

Fortunately, the shark didn’t swim off with the equipment, though the bite left major damage to the protective dome covering the camera.

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Despite years spent professionally filming sharks off the California coast, Gauna said he’s never experienced anything quite like the frightening encounter.

“There was a lot of bait in the water that day, a lot of sea lion activity,” he explained. “Perfect situation for an encounter like that.”

Gauna said the videos he shares online are intended to educate viewers about shark behavior and ocean safety while helping people better understand the apex predators.

“When you enter the water, you’re entering their domain,” he said. “So, we have to respect that.”

When asked exactly where the close call happened, Gauna told KTLA he prefers not to reveal the location out of concern fishermen could use the information to hunt the sharks.