Devin Devone Smith was fatally shot Sunday. Her boyfriend, James Stamper, was arrested Tuesday in connection with her death.

MOULTRIE — On the day that police announced the arrest of a suspect in a Sunday murder, co-workers of the slain woman expressed shock and disbelief mixed with fond memories of the 29-year-old woman.

Moultrie police announced shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday that Jamie Jermaine Stamper, 30, had been taken into custody at about 4:30 p.m. 

Moultrie police officers and Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Stamper at a residence outside of the city, a Moultrie Police Department news release said. The release did not give an address, but said the arrest came off without incident.

The release did not outline the specific charges that Stamper faces.

On Monday, police identified Stamper as a suspect in the fatal shooting of 29-year-old Devin Devon Smith. Smith was shot multiple times, according to Colquitt County Coroner Verlyn Brock.

A jar with photos of Smith on the sides was on the counter on Tuesday at the West Central Avenue Subway sandwich shop where Smith worked. Donations are to help her family with funeral expenses.

“It just seems so unreal,” Crystal Waldon, who worked with Smith, said of her death. “She had just done my hair Thursday. She was up here on Friday. She didn’t work, she was just up here talking to us. I came to work on Sunday, and she’s gone. It’s just something you don’t want to believe.”

Waldon also didn’t understand how someone could do such a thing to someone like Smith. Waldon said her manager has announced the restaurant will be closed on Saturday to allow employees to attend funeral services.

“She had a good heart,” she said. “She was just an all the way around fun person. It didn’t seem like she had a bad bone in her body, because she was always smiling.”

Subway employee Alexis Courtney said that Smith was attending Moultrie Technical College, taking cosmetology classes.

“She did our hair,” she said. “She loved to do hair. She loved children.

Although Smith had no kids of her own, “The way she had the nieces all the time, you would have sworn they were hers,” Waldon said. 

Stamper, the suspect in Smith’s death, has a lengthy history of violence, including three convictions on aggravated assault charges that involved assaults using pistols. One of those involved a woman who was his girlfriend at the time.

Moultrie police reports said that Smith’s body was found behind a building at the Shy Manor apartment complex at 821 Northside Drive. The initial investigation indicated that Smith was shot three times in the back.

Officers, called to a report of gunshots to the apartments at 5 a.m. Sunday, found spent shell casings, a pistol, Newport cigarettes box and cell phone in the area.

Police described Stamper and Smith as having an “on-and-off again relationship” for several years. 

Stamper was convicted in January on a battery charge relating to a Dec. 14 incident in which Smith told police Stamper became enraged, choked her and beat her in the face and head when she told him she wanted to break off their relationship.