INDIANAPOLIS — On the week of Thanksgiving, we first introduced you to Jomo and Charene Cole, an Indianapolis couple known for helping dozens of families with donations of entire meals for Thanksgiving dinner, but in that same week, their joy of giving was wiped away by tragedy.
"My husband got a phone call, he said, 'Honey it's CJ. He's been shot in the head,' and I said no, no, I'm not accepting it." Charene Cole said.
The Cole's 28-year-old son Charles Buchanan, also known as CJ, was shot in the head on Sherman Drive and English Avenue.
The unknown shooter, apparently aiming for Buchanan's friend driving the car, left that person untouched, and left Buchanan with bullet fragments behind his eye. He was not expected to survive, but after weeks in the Intensive Care Unit came a miracle.
"He started coughing, and he opened his eye, and he moved his arm, and he moved his leg and I said, 'you can't tell me what my god can't do,'" Charene said.
As Buchanon heals, his parents are struggling to pay their bills, after spending the majority of the last 33 days in the hospital at their son's bedside and not at work. Now the couple known for helping is in need of help.
"Basically we need a little financial help to get us back on track to keep us from sinking," Jomo Cole said.
The Coles are among dozens of families ending the year wondering who would try and harm the people they love and why. The family with a history of giving is now hoping the city that they love will love their family back.
"I do a lot in the community and I take care of a lot of people in the community, so now I need for the community to help me and my family and bring my son's shooter to justice," Jomo Cole said.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to to call IMPD Detectives at 327-3475 or anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-TIPS (8477).
