A shark killed California surfer Francisco Javier Solorio Jr., off the Santa Barbara coast on Tuesday, local authorities informed.

Solorio from Orcutt, 39, was surfing at Surf Beach near Lampoc shortly before 11 am yesterday when he was bitten by the shark in his upper torso and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Marc Williams.

A friend of Solorio "saw the shark bite his friend," said Williams. "His friend ended up swimming over and pulling him from the water where he received first aid," he added.

This is the seventh confirmed unprovoked shark attack from the Pacific Coast of North America in 2012 and the fifth fatal attack since 2000, according to the Shark Research Committee. 

The attack is also the third attack in four years at this location.

The Sheriff's office said they will examine the marks on the surfboard to determine what type of shark killed Solorio.

Experts speculate it may have been a white shark.

"There is no other species swimming off of the coast regularly that could possibly do that kind of damage," Andrew Nosal of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography told the Los Angeles Times.

The beach was closed on Tuesday following the attack.