ROBERTA, Ga. — Crawford County Sheriff's Office says a man is in jail for shooting and killing a store clerk.
Her name was Prishandra Gemisha Colbert. She was 40.
Sheriff Lewis Walker said it happened at the Pleezing Food Store in Roberta Tuesday night, Nov. 28. It sits behind the Racers Gas Station on Highway 80.
Folks in the area describe the area as a tight-knit small town where almost everybody knows each other.
Many knew the woman behind the register as "Pumpkie, like a pumpkin," Dexter Fagan said. "Everybody just called her pumpkin. Nobody ever really called her by her real name."
As a longtime resident of the Salem community, Fagan said the violence in his community is not common.
He said Pumpkie has three kids surviving her who are now watched by their grandparents, as well as Pumpkie's other loved ones.
"When a situation like that happens, everybody gotta team up and help each other," Fagan said. "They got a strong family, so ain't gonna be no problem with them."
He knew his friend as a person of faith.
"She had a sweet soul," Fagan said. "As soon as you walked in the store, she'd greet ya and talk to ya. If you didn't have enough money to buy something, she'd say get it and go."
He said he visits the store several times a day to get a drink and see his friend.
On the night before she died, he says, she asked him to hang around later than normal.
Fagan says she probably just wanted company from him and her two cousins with them.
"We was in the store, so she asked me and her cousin to stay with her over until she closed, so we stayed there," he said.
On Tuesday night, he says, she was probably helping her customers out, like Clarence Lawson.
Lawson says he was born in Macon and has spent most of his life in Roberta.
"They recognized me when they'd see me, and I'd recognize 'em when I'd see them," he said.
He didn't know Pumpkin well, he says, but they were friendly because he was a regular at her store.
The sheriff's office got a call about a person on the ground outside Pumpkie's store Tuesday night just before 6 p.m.
They found her bleeding from a gunshot wound, and she died at the store, according to the press release.
"It's hard for someone to come in and not like her," Fagan said.
Eyewitnesses described a man at the scene, according to the release.
That night, Upson County Deputies arrested 22-year-old Ryan Lee Teal of Thomaston.
"Violence, whether they know it or not, destroys the person that commits the violence," Lawson said.
Teal is charged with murder and armed robbery. He is staying at the Crawford jail.
Lawson and Fagan both say faith needs to return in the Roberta-Salem community.
"If people put God back into their life, they would start caring for each other," Lawson said.
"It'll get better, the community's just gotta get close to God," Fagan said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over the case.
If you have information about the case, you can reach out to the GBI at 478-987-4545 or the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office at 478-836-3116.
More than a Number:
RELATED: More Than A Number: Family Form
More Than A Number is a Poynter-Stand Together award-winning project by Justin Baxley designed to help families of loved ones impacted by tragedy and trauma interact with journalists in a less intrusive way. Families are able to fill out a form about their family and also receive an in-depth guide on the next steps.
More Than A Number officially launched in August with a streaming special available on 13WMAZ+ for on-demand streaming. For any questions or concerns about More Than A Number, contact us here at the following email: MoreThanANumber@13wmaz.com.