A New Zealand man was killed by a shark while swimming at a beach near Auckland. Reports say the man was about 650 feet off the shore when the animal grabbed him.

Witness Pio Mose was fishing at the beach where swimmer Adam Strange was killed. Mose told The New Zealand Herald he saw the man trying to fight off the "huge" shark. Authorities believe the shark to be between 12-14 feet long.

"All of a sudden there was blood everywhere... I was shaking, scared [and] panicked."

The police attempted to rescue 46-year-old Strange from the shark but it was too late. In an effort to retrieve the body officers took a small inflatable boat out to where the shark and Strange were. The police were firing their guns at the creature.

Police are not sure if they killed the shark "it rolled over and disappeared," Inspector Shawn Rutene said.

The beach where Adam Strange was killed, along with others in the area will be closed until further notice. This is a precaution that most beach communities take when facing a fatal shark attack.

The International Shark Attack File (ISAF) reports that in 2012 there were "80 confirmed cases of unprovoked shark on human attacks." "Provoked attacks usually occur when a human initiates physical contact with a shark.

Although shark attacks are few and far between the ISAF is investigating the slow increase of attacks from year to year. There were 78 attacks in 2011 and 80 in 2012.

Sharks are not going around making meals out of people because it is fun, so don't panic we don't have a Jaws situation happening.

The ISAF believes that the increase in shark attacks "most likely reflects the ever-increasing amount of time spent in the sea by humans, which increases the opportunities for interaction between the two affected parties."

Most shark attacks happen in North American waters. The number of fatal shark attacks in New Zealand (where Adam Strange was killed) is between 12 and 14 since 1830, according to Clinton Duffy, a shark expert with the Department of Conservation.