Clevelander celebrates survival

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

The anniversary of a shooting might seem like an odd occasion for a party.

To the family and friends of Naomi Colston, however, her remarkable survival and recovery were as worth celebrating as her 56th birthday.

“We are celebrating her life,” said sister Oretha Carpenter, who led the planning for the party Feb. 28 at the Zelma George Recreation Center. “This is something good taking place here. We are blessed.”

Colston, radiant in white, clasped a hand to her mouth in surprise as she entered the room to cheers and applause from the crowd of about 100.

“I am the result of your prayers,” she said. “I want to tell the city of Cleveland, Thank you for praying for me. I’m still standing. I give God praise for that.

“It has been 10 years,” she said. “I’m not afraid of anything because God’s got my back.”

She said she felt that presence the most on Jan. 13, 2005 — the day a burglar shot her twice with a sawed-off shotgun.

Colston encountered him on the sort of busy day of service her family says is typical for her. She had taken her mother, Dorothy, to MetroHealth Medical Center for a day of tests, brought her home, and then driven her father, Bishop Azel Colston, to conduct a service at the Glorious Church of God in Christ.

Colston planned to return there after changing clothes at her home.

She started for the stairs, looked up when she heard the sound of a crack on the steps, and saw a man carrying something like a pipe “and then a ball of fire.”

The intruder, a troubled and trouble-making 20-year-old, caught Colston in the face and right arm with the first blast of his shotgun. He shot again, point blank, and blew the thumb off Colston’s raised left hand.

The intruder — who was later caught, convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison — strolled away casually. Colston somehow called 911 and walked out to meet EMS responders.

“She walked to the ambulance — walked!” Carpenter said. “She walked out carrying the thumb so it could be reattached!”