WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, Murphy Brown ventured onto a boat with her father and grandfather in the Colton’s Point area of St. Mary’s County.

That’s where they saw an 8-foot bull shark — 8 feet, 2 inches to be exact — stuck in one of the pound nets Brown’s grandfather fishes out of.

They tried to get the shark out Wednesday night, but the tide was simply too strong, Brown told WTOP. They didn’t want to chance anyone getting hurt.

A day later, when the water calmed down, the family went back to get the shark and realized it was dead.

The family threw the shark back into the water.

“Everyone was pretty shocked,” Brown said. “We had never seen anything like that before. For something that size to be in that area is pretty shocking.”

WTOP’s Andrew Mollenbeck contributed to this report.