Heart-stopping moment great white shark lunges at veteran leaning down to pet it

This is the heart-stopping moment a great white shark lunged at a female veteran as she leaned down to pet it in waters off the Georgia coast.

The clip was shared by Knot Lucky, a non-profit from Savannah which takes veterans, service members and their families out on fishing trips.

Jimmy Armel, a former Ranger who founded the organization, told The Independent the video was shot during one of their shark tagging trips during which they catch, tag and release great whites to track migration data in conjunction with Starbrite, Project SeaSafe, and Gray FishTag Research. They also name each shark after a fallen service member.

Jimmy said the veteran named Jen was never in any danger as the team had the shark under control while it was being tagged.