In a rather bizarre follow-up to the story about a sand tiger shark being found dead on Carolina Beach, a 15-year-old boy told WWAY-3 that he and some other teens were ordered by police to pull a sand tiger shark from the surf and allow it to die on the beach.

However, Carolina Beach Police Chief William Younginer says that’s not the case. According to Younginer, “once the first officers arrived on scene, the shark was out of the water and the shark never went back to the water.” Younginer went on to say that the officers believed the shark had already been out of the water too long to save. Experts believe the sand tiger shark, which is a protected species, was caught by a fisherman.

The sand tiger shark was dumped in a maintenance yard to decompose, where all of its teeth were later removed by a unidentified person.

The teen who made the claims to WWAY-3 says he is standing by his story.