by Kevin Cody
A dead man with wounds in his head was pulled from the ocean at 22nd Street in Hermosa Beach shortly after sunrise Friday morning, November 24.
“During an initial assessment of the body, it appeared that the male may have received a significant injury from a gunshot,” Hermosa Police said in a statement late Saturday Under further investigation, there was no indication the injury was received from a gunshot and the cause of death is unknown at this time…. The investigation is on-going by the LASD Sheriffs Department, the cause of death will be determined by the LA County Coroner
Frank Kessler, who pulled the man from the water, said he was on The Strand at 22nd Street, doing his usual, early morning surf check, and drinking coffee when he saw what he described as “skin” appearing and disappearing in the surfline.
As he raced across the sand toward the water, he saw a man walking with a woman along the shoreline point to where Kessler had been looking.
Kessler rushed into knee-deep water and confirmed what he and the couple had seen was a body.
After calling 911, Kessler pulled the man by his legs up to the dry sand.
“I started CPR. But then I saw [what looked like] an entry, and an exit wound in his head, and knew he was dead,” Kessler said.
He said the man was unclothed, and appeared to be in his 50s, white, with a beard, a shaved head and a shoulder tattoo. Kessler said he did not see clothing on the beach that might have belonged to the dead man. He said the man’s upper bottle was purplish, but his lower body color looked normal. ER
