RALEIGH, N.C.—During a conversation last week, Joyce DeBerry’s son told her he wasn’t like the average 32-year-old.

“I could care less about cars,” he told her. “I don’t care about a lot of fancy clothes.”

A few days after that conversation, DeBerry received word that her son, James Carol “Jamie” DeBerry Jr. had been fatally shot.

Responding to a call of shots fired shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday, Raleigh police found DeBerry, a Capron native, shot in his apartment. He was transported to a local hospital where he later died.

DeBerry said her son moved to Raleigh at age 17 after graduating from high school and attended St. Augustine’s College for a time, but realized college wasn’t for him and started working detailing cars.

“That was the joy of his life, as far as servicing people,” DeBerry’s mother said. “He loved detailing their cars and bringing them back to life.”

DeBerry described her son as a loving person whom everyone liked.

“Jamie was a very loving, giving person,” she said. “Jamie would give you the shirt off of his back. I’ve seen him feed people. If people didn’t have clothes he would give them his clothes, if they didn’t have anywhere to stay he would let them stay with him in his apartment.”

DeBerry said her son leaves behind a daughter, a son, and a stepson. She said her son’s stepson seemed to be taking the news hard.

“He and my son spent so much time together,” she said. “They just did a lot of things together because it wasn’t a lot of difference in their ages.” He even followed in DeBerry’s footsteps and works in auto detailing.

“The little girl is doing amazingly well, she’s asking a lot of questions as to why somebody did it,” DeBerry said of her granddaughter.

After hearing the news, DeBerry said she sat her granddaughter down and told her that “God needed a few more good men” and she would see him again in Heaven if she lived right.

“That man just didn’t know how special my daddy was,” DeBerry said her granddaughter told her Tuesday morning. “He wouldn’t hurt anybody, he loved everybody.”

Police arrested and charged two Raleigh men in connection with DeBerry’s death, 45-year-old David Eric Moses and 43-year-old James Harold Courtney III. Both men were transported to the Wake County (N.C.) Jail.

DeBerry said she attended both suspects’ arraignments and tighter gun-control laws need to be enacted to prevent another tragedy.

“They had no business with a gun,” she said. “We need to put a stop to this violence.”

Police were still investigating Tuesday and weren’t releasing any further details, including whether DeBerry knew his assailants or what their motive was, according to Jim Sughrue, the public information officer for the Raleigh Police Department.

However, DeBerry said she spoke with detectives investigating the case and they confirmed that the shooting was not drug-related, and was the result of some bad blood between one of the suspects and DeBerry.

Funeral services are set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Shiloh Baptist Church in Boykins.

“It’s a hurtful thing,” DeBerry said of her son’s death. “But I know he’s better off.”