THE WOODLANDS, Texas – The Houston area cheerleader who was shot while traveling near Austin has been released from the hospital.
Payton Washington’s mother said some of her daughter’s teammates from Houston visited Austin on Thursday.
What Happened
On Tuesday, April 18, a man shot and wounded two Woodland’s Elite Cheer Company cheerleaders in a supermarket parking lot after one of them said she mistakenly got into his car thinking it was her own.
Heather Roth, one of four team members transferring rides in the lot after practice, said she got out of her friend’s car and into a car she thought was hers, but there was a stranger in the passenger seat. She said she panicked and got back into her friend’s car, but the man got out of his vehicle and approached her. She said she tried to apologize through her friend’s car window, but the man threw up his hands, pulled out a gun, and opened fire.
Roth was grazed by a bullet and was treated at the scene, police said. Her teammate, 18-year-old Washington, was shot in the leg and back.
“Payton opens the door, and she starts throwing up blood,” Roth said.
Police arrested a suspect, 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., who is charged with engaging in deadly conduct, a third-degree felony.
According to court documents, a store manager said he witnessed the shooting, and officers tracked down Rodriguez using parking lot surveillance video that captured his license plate number.
Washington has committed to competing for Baylor University’s acrobatics and tumbling team next year.