A man shot and wounded two cheerleaders in an H-E-B parking lot after one of them said she mistakenly tried to get into his car thinking it was hers.
What happened?
- Officers in Elgin responded to reports of shots fired outside an H-E-B supermarket around 12:15 a.m. Tuesday, the Elgin Police Department said in a news release.
- “Information suggests that an altercation occurred in the parking lot of H-E-B, and multiple shots were fired into a vehicle,” police said.
- Two of the vehicle’s occupants were struck by gunfire. One victim sustained serious injuries and was transported by helicopter to a hospital, where she was listed in critical condition, police said.
- Lynn Shearer, owner of Woodlands Elite Cheer Co., told KPRC that the two people shot were cheerleaders who were on their way home from practice.
- Shearer said the girls regularly carpool to her gym from the Austin area.
- On Monday night, four cheerleaders were on their way back to the Austin area when they stopped at an H-E-B in Elgin, where some of the members had parked their cars, Shearer said.
- One of the cheerleaders, Heather Roth, got out of her friend’s car and opened the door to a vehicle she thought was hers, but noticed there was a stranger in the passenger seat.
- She panicked and got back into her friend’s car. “I just saw a black figure in the passenger seat, and I just shut the door as fast as I could,” Roth said in an Instagram Live post.
- The man got out of his vehicle and approached the car.
- Roth rolled down her window and tried to apologize, but the man pulled out a gun and fired into the car. “I see the guy get out of the passenger door and I rolled my window down, and I was trying to apologize to him… and my window was halfway down, and he just threw his hands up and he pulled out a gun, and then he just started shooting at all of us,” Roth said.
Who is the suspect?
- The suspect, Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, has been charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony, police said.
Who are the victims?
- Payton Washington was shot twice. Washington is a high school senior. She has committed to competing for Baylor University’s acrobatics and tumbling program next year.
- Shearer shared that Washington is recovering but will miss the competition she had been working hard to win -- the Cheerleading Worlds in Orlando, Florida, this weekend. “She’s won every title there is to win in all-star cheerleading,” Shearer said. “She’s literally a role model for kids in this industry. Throughout the country, everybody knows her.”
- “She’s literally one of the very best that’s ever done this sport… she won’t be competing this weekend unfortunately she has more surgeries in front of her,” said Shearer.
- Roth, Washington’s teammate, was grazed by a bullet and was treated at the scene.
Recovery and what’s next
- Shearer said Washington is off a ventilator and is expected to undergo surgery in the future.
- A GoFundMe account has been set up for Washington asking for donations to aid in her recovery. KPRC 2 has not verified this account. That post read, “Three of our Generals and one Red Angel were viciously shot at last night in a random act of violence. Payton was shot twice and badly injured. 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.”