Ragsdale Elementary School honors 11-year-old who was shot

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. – Editor’s note: The video above is from the announced memorial service for an 11-year-old who was killed in a home in Paulding County

Students and staff wore green shirts in memory of an 11-year-old who was shot and killed in his Paulding County home in late April.

On Saturday morning, Ragsdale Elementary School released photos of several classes and teachers all wearing either green shirts or T-shirts with Zander Whatley’s face before he celebrated his 12th birthday on May 11th.

He died April 29 after Paulding County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a shooting on Ruth Way around 11 p.m. and found multiple shots had been fired into a home.

A bullet that entered the house hit Zander.

“That’s the bullet that went through the glass and the two slabs of rock and got him,” William Dorsey, Zander’s stepfather, said in April, pointing to one of the bullet holes in the side of their house.

According to the sheriff’s office, Zander was taken to a local hospital where he later died. Dorsey said Zander has 11 siblings and said the 11-year-old enjoyed being a brother and helping his siblings. He added that “there’s a lot of love in the house.”

The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are still investigating the circumstances surrounding Zander’s death.

If anyone has information, investigators ask you to call the investigators’ hotline at (770)-443-3047. You can also submit an anonymous tip using the Paulding Sheriff’s Office mobile app.

The community has also set up a food train to help Zander’s family during this difficult time.