Hatley Community Continues To Mourn After Longtime Resident Is Killed In Alabama Shooting

HATLEY, Miss. (WCBI)- It was a sunny, peaceful, and quiet day in Hatley on Thursday.

However, a dark cloud that no one could see hangs over the small town as the community copes with the devastating loss of a longtime resident, Nancy Swift.

“When she came into a room you could always hear that laugh and it always made you smile,” said Terri Wilbanks who’s known Swift all of her life. “I don’t know of any part that I won’t miss of her.”

Wilbanks’ family lived next door to Swift’s family.

Wilbanks describes Swift as being a sweet, loving, and outgoing person who was a fixture in the Hatley community.

“I think it’s just her, the aura that was around her,” Wilbanks explained. “She loved her God, she was a strong Christian woman, she was a very family oriented woman, she did what she loved which is being a nurse.”

Swift worked as a nurse for decades in West Point and Birmingham, Alabama.

She was a nursing supervisor at UAB Highlands Hospital.

However, while she was at work Wednesday evening, police said an upset employee, Trevis Devon Coleman, opened fire, shooting and killing Swift and critically injuring another worker.

“I think it was more of a shock, you know,” said WIlbanks. “You don’t think something like that it’s going to happen.”

However, even in the midst of tragedy, family and friends are still remembering Swift for how she loved and cared for everyone she came in touch with.

“She was just an all-around great person, if you didn’t know her, you were the one that missed out,” said Wilbanks.

As much as Swift loved caring for her patients, Wilbanks said there’s something else she enjoyed doing more, being a mom to her one and only child.

“She was so extremely proud of Angie,” Wilbanks expressed with tears rolling from her eyes. “She was so thankful to be her mother, and I’ve always said that as much as Nancy was lucky to have Angie, Angie could not of had a better mother.”

Swift was also a colon cancer survivor, and friends said she enjoyed playing the piano in her spare time.

The other person who was shot during Wednesday’s shooting is still recovering from their wounds.

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