The Story of Carola Broaddus
She Was Shot in the Face at Work. This Is What Happened Next
A few months ago I sat down with a woman named Carola Broaddus in San Antonio. Before I ever turned a camera on, I asked her to tell me her story. I needed to know her before I could tell it the right way.What she shared with me that day confirmed everything I already felt — this was a story that needed to be told.Today, it is finally here.
What Happened in 1997
Carola Broaddus was a business owner. She had built a communications company from the ground up in San Antonio — paging services, cellular phones, an answering service. She had created jobs, built a team, and built something she was proud of.One of her employees was in a dangerous relationship. The people around her saw the warning signs and encouraged her to leave. She did. She filed a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend — she did everything right.But he didn't accept it.On that day in 1997, he came to her workplace armed with a rifle. Police had already warned her employee not to come in. She came anyway.He opened fire.He shot her employee thirteen times, killing her. He shot another employee, Juanita, multiple times. And then he came face to face with Carola in a narrow hallway — a woman who had done nothing but try to run a business and look out for her people.He shot her in the face.The bullet traveled along her cheekbone, knocked out her eye, and exited near her neck. Then he turned the gun on himself.Carola survived by inches. Literally.
The Road Back
What followed was fourteen hours of surgery, titanium plates built around her eye socket, and a prosthetic eye. She had no health insurance. She had a business to run. She had employees looking to her. And she had lost someone she felt responsible for. But she didn't walk that road alone. Her employees showed up — the ones who stayed chose to come back and keep going alongside her. Her community rallied around her in ways she never expected. Meals were provided. The walls of her space were repainted. Strangers donated. Broadway Bank opened an account in her name so people could give. Local television got involved. Someone in her network wrote a book and gave her the proceeds. The hospital reduced her bills in exchange for promotional exposure. People she had never met chose to carry her through.
What Never Wavered
Through all of it — the trauma, the loss, the grief, the surgeries, the long slow process of rebuilding — one thing never moved.Her faith.The rosary. Weekly adoration. A novena to Saint Margaret Mary. These were not just rituals for Carola. They were lifelines. And she will tell you plainly — they are the reason she is still here.She never fell into depression. She never lost her footing. Not because the road was easy. But because she was not walking it alone
Why I Told This Story
I started Sherina The Storyteller because I believe every person carries a story worth telling. Some of those stories are love stories. Some are brand stories. Some are testimonies.Carola's story is a testimony.It is for anyone who has ever walked through something they didn't think they could survive. It is for anyone who has questioned where God was in their darkest moment. It is for anyone who needs to be reminded that faith is not just something you carry on good days — it is what carries you on the ones that try to break you.I am honored to have been the one to tell it.
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