Probe Continues Into COVID-19 ICU Nurse's Killing

Pittsburgh PA

08 December, 2020

11:53 AM

Description

NASHVILLE, TN — Police continue to investigate the death of a COVID-19 nurse and southwestern Pennsylvania native who was shot to death in her car while driving on a Tennessee interstate. Caitlyn Kaufman, 26, was from Chicora, Butler County, about 50 miles north of Pittsburgh. According to Nashville police, Kaufman was killed on I-440 who was traveling to work at St. Thomas West Hospital when shots were fired into her Mazda CX-5 SUV. The vehicle came to rest on the right shoulder of the road against the guard rail. A police officer stopped to check on it several hours after Kaufman is believed to have been shot. Kaufman's shift at the hospital was to have begun at 7 p.m.; police think the shooting occurred between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Police have not identified any suspects in the killing. Kaufman's mother told the Tennessean that her daughter had no enemies. "It was the wrong place at the wrong time," she said. "I don't know what causes someone to do something like that. She was on her way to work to take care of people... people she didn't know. It's just senseless to me." Kaufman worked as an ICU nurse for two years and was working directly with patients stricken with coronavirus at the time of her death, according to her sister, Elyse Kaufman, who established a GoFundMe page to assist with funeral costs. "Caitlyn was an extremely selfless person, always willing to lend a helping hand no matter the personal cost," her sister stated on the fundraising page. "Caitlyn embodied what it means to be a nurse in both her professional and personal life going so far to leap from a moving car and run to help victims of a car crash as she returned from a vacation." According to the GoFundMe page, Kaufman spent her days off blaring country music while boating, water skiing, wakeboarding, and buggy riding with her friends. "Caitlyn was loved by many and will be sorely missed by all," her sister wrote. "She had a smile that would light up a room and a laugh that was contagious."