Tenn. Man Remembered as a 'Hero' After Dying While Protecting His Mother and Son from Tornado
Joseph Dalton was killed when the twister tossed his mobile home on top of another as it tore through Middle Tennessee, according to police
A Tennessee man is being remembered as a hero for protecting his loved ones when a tornado ripped through their town on Saturday.
Joseph Dalton, 37, was killed when the twister tossed his mobile home on top of another while it tore through the Nesbitt Lane area of Madison, according to a news release from the Metro Nashville Police Department.
Joseph, who also went by “JoJo,” was “shielding his son Aiden and mother Joey” when the tornado hit the structure, according to a GoFundMe campaign for the family.
Cassandra Diket, Joseph’s wife, said her husband put her son and mother-in-law into a bathtub before the storm hit, according to NBC affiliate WSMV. She believes her husband died a hero.
Related: Tennessee Tornado Kills 6, Including a Child, and Leaves Dozens Injured
“My mother-in-law says it now. She doesn’t think my son or her would be alive if it weren’t for him,” Diket told the outlet.
Diket was texting her husband shortly before the tornado hit their town, according to The Tennessean. In one of his last messages, Joseph told his wife to “be careful” as the storm approached.
“I knew it was different this time,” Diket recalled. She said she rushed home around 5 p.m. local time and found nothing but a pile of debris in the spot where her mobile home once was.
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A short time later, Diket found her son in the rubble and rushed him to a nearby ambulance.
Aiden “was badly injured” in the twister and transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, GoFundMe organizer Amber Arthur wrote in the description of the online fundraiser. His grandmother’s condition remains unknown.
The young boy told his mother that Joseph was using his body to shield him and his grandmother during the twister, according to The Tennessean. “He’s my hero,” he said, per his mom.
Related: 10-Year-Old Boy Among 6 Dead After Tennessee Tornadoes: 'Absolutely Devastated,' Says Mom
The MNPD also confirmed the deaths of 31-year-old Floridema Gabriel Perez and her 2-year-old son Anthony Elmer Mendez, who were inside the second mobile home involved in the deadly incident. Perez’s 7-year-old son survived the ordeal.
Neighbor Wanda McClemor told CBS affiliate WTVF that other neighbors found the mother clutching her child while searching for survivors after the storm.
“I prayed they would just be unconscious. But that wasn't the case," she explained.
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