A Texas high school cheerleader is recovering after being shot on Monday, April 17. According to Fox 7 Austin, the cheerleader was traveling with three other teammates, and one teenager approached the wrong vehicle, mistaking it as her own.
More Details Regarding The Shooting
According to the outlet, four Stony Point High School cheerleaders were returning home from an “out-of-town cheer practice at Woodlands Elite in the Woodlands.” The girls had reportedly left their cars in a grocery store parking lot on “East 290 in Elgin.”
Upon arrival at the parking lot, one of the girls approached a vehicle, believing it was her own. She then attempted to get inside the car. However, realized it was the wrong vehicle.
She then returned to a teammate’s vehicle.
According to PEOPLE, the cheerleader has been identified as Heather Roth.
Roth shared a statement regarding the following events, as per CNN.
“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 then halfway, my window was down, and he just threw his hands up, and then he pulled out a gun and he just started shooting at all of us.”
One of the four cheerleaders was reportedly treated at the scene. While another, named Payton Washington, was airlifted to a local hospital.
Washington is currently in the ICU.
Payton Washington is still in the ICU. She’s a senior at a high school in Round Rock, Texas. She was about to join Baylor University’s athletic program later this year. pic.twitter.com/ZiDreJIopE
— Olivia Messer 🌙 (@OliviaMesser) April 19, 2023
The Community’s Response & Washington’s Recovery
On Tuesday, the Woodlands Elite Cheer Co. took to Facebook to share news of the shooting and extend prayers for Washington’s recovery.
“4 of our girls were involved in a horrific incident on their way home after practice last night.We are asking for your prayers forPayton, 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…”
“Payton was shot twice and badly injured. She is stable in the ICU and will have a long road to recovery.”
“She’s won every title there is to win in All-Star cheerleader except for a world title, so that makes this super heartbreaking for her. I don’t know what we’re going to put on the floor, but we will be there, and we will definitely all be competing for her.”
More Details Regarding The Shooting Suspect
According to Fox 7 Austin, 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr. was arrested on Tuesday, April 18.
He has been charged with “deadly conduct, and additional charges may be filed.”
The shooting arrives on the heels of a previous incident that claimed the life of a 20-year-old woman named Kaylin A. Gillis. Gillis was killed on April 15 after mistakenly pulling into the wrong driveway in Hebron, New York, as reported by PEOPLE.
The incident also follows the shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, who was shot twice after mistakenly approaching the wrong house on April 13, as previously reported by The Shade Room.
Payton Washington is in the ICU after she was shot for getting in the wrong car in Texas
Kaylin Gillis was shot to death for driving into the wrong driveway in New York
Ralph Yarl was shot in the head for ringing the doorbell at the wrong house in Missouri
It’s the guns pic.twitter.com/ZpJZ0sr3wQ
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) April 19, 2023
