A woman is recovering after being shot in the face on Lothridge Road in unincorporated White County early Saturday, August 29, and the man accused of pulling the trigger is now sitting in jail without bond. White County Sheriff Rick Kelley confirmed that deputies responded to the shooting call around 1:30 a.m. and found the victim with a gunshot wound to her face before launching a regional manhunt.
Deputies located the injured woman near the Lothridge Road area and White County EMS transported her to Northeast Georgia Medical Center Gainesville, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. That Hall County hospital was re-verified in February as one of only six state-designated Level I trauma centers in Georgia, according to Northeast Georgia Health System, which runs the 629-bed flagship facility that treats more than 3,000 trauma patients a year. Authorities have not released the identity of the injured woman, and officials have not disclosed what led up to the shooting.
Manhunt Ends at a Relative's Home in Baldwin
Investigators identified 41-year-old Andrew Landrum Waddell, of Cleveland, as the suspect and tracked him to a family member's house in Baldwin, roughly 25 miles southeast across county lines in Habersham and Banks counties. Deputies obtained a search warrant for the home, and the Banks County SWAT team arrested Waddell without incident, the outlet's report notes.
The apprehension required a multi-jurisdictional response, with the Banks County Sheriff's Office, the Habersham County Sheriff's Office and the Baldwin Police Department all assisting White County investigators. The Banks County Sheriff's Office maintains tactical personnel trained to SWAT standards who provide around-the-clock capability for high-risk warrant executions across North Georgia, per the Banks County Sheriff's Office. White County EMS also aided the broader investigation, the same account notes.
Suspect Has a Prior Arrest in Northeast Georgia
Waddell now faces a charge of aggravated assault and remains in the White County jail without bond. Under Georgia Code § 16-5-21, aggravated assault is a felony carrying a statutory prison sentence of one to 20 years upon conviction, with a mandatory minimum of at least one year, according to FindLaw. Because a firearm was allegedly used, prosecutors are not required to prove the victim suffered further bodily injury beyond the gunshot wound itself — the offensive use or discharge of a weapon alone satisfies the felony threshold, per Ross & Pines, LLC.
This is not Waddell's first brush with law enforcement in the region. He was previously arrested in January 2015 in Stephens County and charged with theft by receiving in connection with a scrap metal heist from a Toccoa textile company, according to WNEG.
Sheriff's Office Continues Investigation
The White County Sheriff's Office released a statement detailing the shooting investigation and subsequent arrest, and the case remains open. Sheriff Kelley, a Cleveland native who joined the department in 2003 as a jailer and later led its criminal investigations division, has served as sheriff since January 2021 and was re-elected to a second term in 2024, according to the White County, GA government. The woman shot in the face continues to recover, and no additional details on a possible motive or relationship between the two have been made public.
