They risked their lives. They went above and beyond. Six heroes were honored by local law enforcement.
A San Marcos couple saved their 35-year-old neighbor.
"It was a strange circumstance," Charlton Lee tells San Diego 6 News. "I mean, the situation that unfolded was just so weird. I'll remember that moment for the rest of my life."
Charlton and Alexandra Lee found themselves in the middle of a horrible knife attack on a hot August day last year.
"We reacted. We heard her cry for help. She was in need. We didn't think too much. We just react," said Alexandra Lee.
Kendra Beebe, the Lee's neighbor, was stabbed 20 times at her home. She took three serious stabs; two to the lungs and another to the throat.
Deputies say behind it all was Beebe's ex-boyfriend Shelly Malil, best known as an actor in "The 40-Year Old Virgin."
Actor Shelly Malil
Alexandra remembers the attack and said, "My husband tended to her while she was pretty much...hurt. I was trying to help her children."
Charlton stepped in and restrained Malil from taking another stab. Malil stopped and then took off.
Because of the Lee's, detectives were able to catch Malil. It's a valiant act the sheriff's department had to honor.
At the award banquet, San Diego County Sheriff Bill Kolender said, "If it had not been for the quick actions of Mr. and Mrs. Lee, the victim most likely would have been murdered."
Kendra Beebe has fully recovered from the attack. As for Shelly Malil, he will be going to trial and, if convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Also honored at the 18th annual Salute to Local Heroes ceremony, sponsored by the Rotary Club of San Diego, were:
- Dylan Dearborn of Santee, who chased down, detained and turned over to police a suspected drunken driver who had just fled the scene of a fatal hit-and-run crash
- Isaac Mendez of Pacific Beach, who came to the rescue of a woman being attacked by a sex assailant; and
- Deon Millan and Dejion Rivers, sailors stationed aboard the Coronado-based USS Ronald Reagan, who stopped an attack by a hatchet-wielding man on his girlfriend and members of her family.
Presenting the awards at Sheraton Mission Valley Hotel were San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne, county Sheriff Bill Kolender and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
