A good Samaritan discovered an unresponsive male surfer on Sunday afternoon, January 19. Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau responded to the call at approximately 2:20 p.m., and he was pulled to shore. Officers performed CPR and then arranged ambulance transport of the individual to Good Samaritan University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The surfer has been identified as Jack Shapiro, age 54. He had been a resident of Holbrook. Shapiro’s exact cause of death is still to be determined by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office.
SCPD detectives are asking anyone with information on this incident to contact the Homicide Squad at 631-852- 6392.
![“Unfortunately, and despite our warnings and advice to leave [Fire Island] while conditions allowed, many decided not only to stay but to come over to the island,” scolded Ocean Beach Mayor James Mallott in an emailed newsletter on the afternoon of Sept. 26, during the height of the nor’easter. “These decisions put themselves and their families in danger and jeopardized our first responders who had to answer calls that never should have been.”](https://www.fireislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IMG_8692.jpeg?quality=51&w=700)
