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GREENSBORO -- Shop owners, friends and even total strangers expressed shock and anger Wednesday following the shooting death of a 70-year-old Greensboro hat shop owner known as Miss Betty.

"It makes me wonder if I would have been robbed if I was at my shop then," said Sabrina Wilson, co-owner of Divine Favor Beauty Salon off Cone Boulevard in northeast Greensboro, just a few stores away from where Betty Sibert Thomas was killed Tuesday afternoon.

Kenneth Simmons was at his Mattress Station shop Tuesday afternoon listening to the television when Thomas was shot to death in her small shop -- Angie's Hats at 2103 East Cone Blvd. -- just a few doors away. "I never heard or saw nothing until the crime scene tape went up," Simmons said. "She was my friend; every day we prayed together. It makes me mad."

Workers at the strip shopping center off Cheshire Way remembered Thomas as a deeply religious woman who gave away food and held daily prayer meetings inside her store.

"She was a mighty woman of God," recalled Pam Toney, co-owner of Divine Favor Beauty Salon. "She didn't deserve this -- no one deserves this, especially Miss Betty."

Thomas normally kept the door of her shop locked and the window blinds up at her store, where she worked along with her pet chow, Big Boy, Toney said. She was often accompanied at the store in the afternoons and weekends by her granddaughter, believed to be about 14.

Sophia Cameron came by the store Wednesday morning to drop off flowers with a friend, Shannon McPhail. Neither knew Thomas except to see her walk past. "We just wanted to pay our respects and let the family know we are thinking about them," Cameron said. "It's a sad situation."

Toney said the area has many ongoing problems ranging from loitering to gangs. "The landlord has had to paint the sides of the building over twice in the past couple of months to cover up the graffiti," Toney said.

"This whole side of town needs an overhaul but no one is going to do it," Simmons said. "It's not going to change."

A man without a shirt was seen leaving the business shortly after the shooting, Capt. Gary Hastings said. An investigation is ongoing.

Police ask people with information to call Crime Stoppers at 373-1000.