Chicora native killed in Tenn.
Chicora native Caitlyn Marie Kaufman, 26, was shot and killed Thursday evening while driving to work at St. Thomas West Hospital in Nashville, Tenn.
Gunshots were fired into the Mazda CX-5 SUV Kaufman was driving on Interstate 440 west while she was on her way to the hospital where she worked as a nurse, Metropolitan Nashville Police said in a news report.
Her shift at the hospital was to have begun at 7 p.m. Detectives believe she was running on time, and think the gunfire likely occurred between 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The vehicle came to rest on the right shoulder of the road against the guardrail between the Hillsboro Pike and West End Avenue exits. A Metro Parks Precinct officer stopped to check on the vehicle at 8:52 p.m., discovered that Kaufman had been shot, and called for assistance from Midtown Hills Precinct officers. Kaufman died at the scene, police said.
Kaufman was living in Lebanon, Tenn. She started working at the hospital as an intensive care unit nurse in December 2018, according to her Facebook page.
She graduated from Butler Senior High School in 2012. She competed in 1- and 3-meter dives as a member of the diving team and competed in the WPIAL Class AAA girls championships three times.After high school, Kaufman earned bachelor's degrees in 2016 from Clarion University of Pennsylvania in liberal studies and from California University of Pennsylvania in athletic training. She also competed in diving at Clarion University.In 2018, she graduated from Butler County Community College with an associate of applied science degree in registered nursing.She was among 50 graduates interviewed for a news article highlighting BC3 students a few days before her May 16 graduation.“I would recommend BC3 and the nursing program to any student. While it is a challenging program, it has helped me not only to become a better student, but also prepared me for my future career. My clinical experience has given me the opportunity to have one-on-one interactions with a diverse group of patients, and has prepared me what is expected as a nurse,” Kaufman said in the Butler Eagle article.
BC3 nursing instructor Julia Carney was among those who helped Kaufman prepare for her career.“I pinned her during our pinning ceremony,” Carney said. “She kept in contact. She loved the ICU, loved being down there. She was just a great soul and a vibrant young lady.”She said the job in Nashville was Kaufman's first job in nursing and she helped her transfer her nursing license to Tennessee.“She was one of my bright stars in my clinicals. If I had a sick family member, I'd let her take care of them. She was respectful, professional. She embodied everything you want to see in a nurse,” Carney said.She said she doesn't know why Kaufman wanted to move to Nashville, but it was a place she talked about often. “She loved the city. She just loved Nashville,” Carney said.Kaufman's family is heartsick over the death.“It's just devastating to everybody,” said her aunt Glenda Kaufman of East Brady.She said Caitlyn's parents arrived in Nashville on Friday evening.“They're beside themselves,” Glenda Kaufman said.Ken Bedford, Caitlyn's high school diving coach, said she was an excellent diver and a pleasure to coach.“She was a pretty accomplished diver. She qualified for WPIAL at least three years,” Bedford said. “She was one of the sweetest, fun loving kids you'd ever get a chance to coach. Coaches look for students like that.”He said seeing Caitlyn's smile at practice served as motivation for him to do his best.Caitlyn served on student council and made the honor roll in high school and earned a place on the dean's list in college, he said.“Not only was she a great athlete, she was a great student also,” Bedford said.He said he is struggling to make sense of her death.“I'm have a hard time processing it. I still can't believe it. These kids are still your kids after you coach them. It's like losing a family member. I'm tearing up every time I think about it,” he said.
