Shark Kills Film Director, Adam Strange in New Zealand, Beach Closed; 'There Was Blood Everywhere' [VIDEO]

Award-winning film director Adam Strange was killed by a great white shark near a popular New Zealand beach on Wednesday, despite the attempts of police that fired gun shots to save him. The country's beaches were closed following the attack.

Police were able to recover the body of the victim, identified as Strange, who won a Crystal Bear award for best short film at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival, according to his company's website.

Witness saw the 46-year-old to be fighting a possible 14 foot shark. The incident took place close to the popular Muriwai beach.

"All of a sudden there was blood everywhere," Pio Mose, who was fishing at the beach, told the Associated Press. "I was shaking, scared, panicked."

Strange's family released a statement about his death, that they are "grieving the loss of a glorious and great father, husband and friend."

It added, "We are in deep shock and are still trying to contact overseas family members, so discretion and privacy would be appreciated until the family are ready to make any further statements."

Police Inspector Shawn Rutene shared the victim was about 650 feet offshore when the shark attacked. Police went out in inflatable lifesaving boats and shot at the shark.

"It rolled over and disappeared," Rutene said, without saying whether police were certain that they killed the creature. There were other sharks in the water and after distracting them the rescuers were able to recover Strange's body.

"Our team discovered the body and discovered the shark was still there," said Tim Jago of the Muriwai Surf Life Saving Club. "It was a case of standing out for awhile, until we got a plan in place."

Clinton Duffy, a shark expert with the Department of Conservation said, "There are much lower levels of shark attacks here than in Australia. It's possibly a function of how many people are in the water" in New Zealand's cooler climate, he said.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time they ignore people," he said. "Sometimes, people get bitten."