SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Two San Diego area men have been recognized with North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism for swimming into bloodied water to save their teammate during a shark attack.
Kevin Barrett, 51, a financial advisor from San Diego, and Cameron Whiting, 31, a real estate company vice president from Encinitas, both received a Carnegie Medal, North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism, for saving their teammate from a shark attack while they were swimming in the Pacific Ocean in Del Mar over the summer, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced .
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A Carnegie Medal is given to men and women in the U.S. and Canada who have risked serious injury or death to save the lives of others.
Barrett and Whiting are among 18 people who were recognized by the Carnegie Hero Fund in September 2024, including a veteran who helped take down the gunman who opened fire in a Colorado Springs nightclub in 2022, a mother and brother who died in separate incidents attempting to save family members, a teen who saved an 18-year-old from drowning in Hawaii, another teen who saved a 9-month-old baby from being electrocuted in Oregon, and a teen who saved a woman in her 30s from drowning in Alabama…