PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — The Paulding County mother of an 11-year-old shot and killed told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington she now has some closure after deputies charged a fifth suspect in her son’s murder case.
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“It makes me feel like I feel his presence,” Shareeda Alexander said as she showed a special Christmas tree decorated in her son’s honor.
Alexander said she calls the tree, “Zander’s tree.” It remains decorated, year-round.
“It gives me a symbol of Zander,” Alexander explained.
In 2024, a group of people drove by Alexander’s Paulding County home and opened fire.
A bullet hit and killed her 11-year-old son, Zander Whatley.
“It’s emotional. It hurts. It makes me feel like why?” Alexander said.
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Alexander said the group shot at her house after one young man had a dispute with Whatley’s older brother.
“I want to know what made them come do this,” Alexander said.
Alexander believes she is one step closer to answers.
On Feb. 13, U.S. Marshals found the fifth suspect in the case, 22-year-old Joseph Tarawalie, in Arlington, Va. He was extradited to Paulding County on Saturday.
“It was somewhat closure and a little peace,” Alexander explained.
“They’re all charged with murder, and they’re all housed in our jail here,” Jordan Yuodis with the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office said.
“Getting this last suspect in custody is just the crowning jewel of this case,” Paulding County Sheriff Ashley Henson told Washington in an exclusive interview.
“To be cut down in literally the best part of his life for nothing is senseless and appalling,” Henson added.
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Alexander said as she awaits justice for her son, she works with ‘The Angel Moms Collective’ to help other mothers whose children died of gun violence.
She said she believes her son is proud.
“I owe it to him. I’m not going to give up, so I know he’s smiling ear to ear,” Alexander said.
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