Lakewood Woman Shot In Face Talks About Her Recovery
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) - A Lakewood woman who was hospitalized for nearly a month after being shot in the face is back home and talking about her ordeal.
Charlene Clay, 72, was robbed and shot in April by a man police say was Melvin "Catfish" Nelson, a 60-year-old transient who later killed himself in a standoff.
VIDEO: Watch The Complete Interview With Charlene Clay
Many would call it a miracle to be shot once in the face and survive but Clay was shot three times at point blank range. Looking at her now, you wouldn't know she faced such bad injuries.
There are now three plates in Clay's skull. A bullet also hit Clay in the mouth, knocking out her teeth. A third went in right below her eye and came out her ear.
One bullet remains lodged against a vertebra in her neck with fragments in her throat.
No single bullet did permanent damage damage though.
Clay says when Nelson first came to her door asking about a rental property he was pushy and rude and insisting on renting one her apartments just up the street from her house.
She wasn't planning on renting to him, but Nelson kept insisting, and on April 23 he showed up on her doorstep on not with a deposit as he said he would, but with a gun and a plan to rob her for rent money.
Clay went right to the kitchen and called 911. Melvin followed her in, and shot her multiple times. He then walked away with her purse. Clay's 96-year-old mother found her lying on the floor bleeding.
Additional Resources
Watch Clay's complete interview with CBS4 reporter Andrea Lopez in an extended video clip.
