Man who rushed to wake his neighbors as tornado approached still has no regrets
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MOUNT JULIET, TN (WSMV) — If a tornado was headed your way, chances are you would get to your basement or bathroom, no questions asked.
Mt. Juliet resident Lee Shand did just that, but only after waking up his neighbors and risking his own life in the process.
“’Til this day, I don’t know whether it was brave or stupid,” Shand said.
News4 first introduced you to Lee Shand days after the storm hit. His son sent us a video showing Shand performing his selfless act.
Shand remembers it like it was yesterday.
“I could see flashes going off over here behind me, which was not lightning. It was power lines being taken down,” Shand said.
He remembers his neighbor Arlo, and Arlo’s newborn baby. It’s what drove him to run outside, straight to their house across the street.
“I knocked on their door, then they ran to knock on their neighbor’s door. And then went to my neighbor on the left here, knocked on their door,” Shand said.
Then he finally ran back to his house and took cover.
“By the time I got back into the house and closed the bathroom door, there was a terrific noise, a rush of air that we felt under the door and then all the lights went out,” Shand said.
Shand’s neighborly efforts went viral, and everyone around him showed their gratitude.
“Everyone at work saw this thing. So the reception at work was fantastic,” Shand said. “I was put on the internal website at work, and you know there was people calling me a hero at work.”
But he doesn’t seem himself that way.
“Heroes are the people that go fight COVID, or go get shot at everyday for a country or the police or the fire service or EMS. I just did what I thought was right,” Shand said.
Since that night, Shand says the connection between his family and his neighbors has only blossomed. It’s a day and and act they will all never forget.
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