Who is Payton Washington? Texas Cheerleader Shot After Car Mix-Up
Four Texas cheerleaders were shot at, with one of them being hospitalized, after one of them mistakenly got into the wrong car, according to reports.
Each of the alleged victims are members of an elite competitive cheerleading team in Oak Ridge and were on their way back from a practice when the incident occurred in the early hours of April 18.
The four women would drive from the Round Rock area to Woodlands Elite Cheer company in Oak Ridge multiple times a week for practice, according to an ABC13 report, using the Elgin H-E-B as a carpool lot.
Arriving in the area just after midnight, cheerleader Heather Roth left her friends' vehicle and opened the door to a vehicle she believed to be hers in the parking lot.
Roth saw a man sitting in the passenger seat and, assuming there was a stranger inside her car, went back to her friends' car.
After realizing her mistake, she saw the man approaching the vehicle and rolled down the window to apologize and tell him she thought he had been in her car.
Roth said the man then threw up his hands, pulled out a gun and started shooting.
The shooter shot at the vehicle multiple times before fleeing the area, according to the H-E-B manger who witnessed the shooting.
This resulted in Roth being grazed by one of the bullets, while her fellow cheerleader Payton Washington was struck twice, in the leg and back. Washington was subsequently flown to a nearby hospital in a critical condition.
Authorities were able to obtain surveillance footage of the parking lot that captured the shooting incident.
Police have since arrested the alleged gunman and identified him as Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr, 25. On Tuesday he was charged with deadly conduct though additional charges may follow.
Newsweek has contacted the Elgin Police Department via email for comment.
A GoFundMe page set up to help pay Washington's medical bills states that she was "badly injured" in the shooting.
It reads: "She is stable in the ICU and will have a long road to recovery. Please consider helping to ease the financial burden to this family of their medical expenses. We ask that you keep our athletes in your prayers at this devastating time."
Following the shooting a prayer event was also held by the Woodlands Elite Cheer Company for Washington and the other cheerleaders.
A Facebook post about the shooting reads: "4 of our girls were involved in a horrific incident on their way home after practice last night.
"We are asking for your prayers for Payton, Keyona, Heather & Genesis. Also Big prayers for Payton as she recovers please.
"Please keep these girls and our WE cheer family in your thoughts and prayers. WE appreciate our cheer community."
The cheerleading team's head coach, Felecia Mulkey, spoke to local media and said she had visited Washington in hospital on Tuesday.
She also issued a statement that said: "Payton is a strong young lady; if you know her, you know that about her. I have no doubt she's going to get through this.
"She's an amazing athlete but a better human, and that's why she's a part of our Baylor family. My prayers are with Payton and her teammates, that were involved in last night's tragic event.
"I know mental wounds also leave scars. We want to lift up the athletes and their families during this difficult time. We love Payton, and we wish her well as she recovers."
