A 20-year-old Michigan man died after an apparent lightning strike in Celebration, Florida, as per the Osceola County Sheriff's Office. Investigators identified the victim as Matthew Eric Jenkins of Shelby Township, Michigan. His father told WESH 2 that Jenkins had moved to Central Florida just last week to start the Disney College Program. Deputies responded around 6:25 p.m. Tuesday, September 8, to a report of an unresponsive man on a walking path behind a hotel in the 700 block of Bloom Street. Witnesses were taking shelter from the rain when lightning struck nearby.
Moments later, people noticed Jenkins had collapsed, and bystanders rushed to perform CPR before first responders arrived. Felipe Costa was among those who ran to help. Costa said: 'As soon as I heard that, I started running and I came over here. That's when I saw the man. There was a lady behind me. She came and started CPR as soon as possible.' Jenkins was taken to AdventHealth Celebration, where he was pronounced dead.
Spyro Betz, who was walking nearby before the storm intensified, said he heard a powerful crack of lightning overhead. 'I didn't expect it to hit a person,' Betz said, calling the tragedy 'an absolute shame.' The sheriff's office said homicide detectives are awaiting the medical examiner's determination of the official cause of death. The investigation remains ongoing.
Jenkins' father said the family is grateful to everyone who came to his son's aid. Costa later left a flower near where the incident happened, saying he now has 'so much more respect for what storms are capable of.'