Texas Cheerleaders Shot After Mistakenly Opening Wrong Car Door

Cheerleaders standing in a line. Illustration - Stephen Coburn/Shutterstock

Two Texas cheerleaders were shot, one critically, after one of the girls mistakenly opened the door of the wrong vehicle in a grocery store parking lot.

Officers responded to reports of gunfire at about 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday at the HEB grocery store in Elgin, Texas, police said in a news release. Elgin is about 25 miles northeast of Austin.

One of the girls was treated at the scene and released. The other girl suffered critical injuries and was transported by helicopter to a hospital.

Lynn Shearer, the owner of Woodland’s Elite Cheer Co., told local news KXAN-TV that the girls, along with two others, were on their way home from practice when the shooting occurred.

The four girls used the H-E-B grocery store parking lot as a meet-up for their trips to Shearer’s gym in Oak Ridge North, Texas, according to KTRK-TV. They made the approximately 300-mile round-trip trek three times a week for practice.

“It was unfortunate. These girls were just trying to get home,” Shearer said.

Shearer did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

What Happened?

On Tuesday, the girls arrived at the parking lot around midnight after their practice.

One of the cheerleaders, Heather Roth, tried to get into a car she believed was hers when she noticed a man in the passenger seat.

Realizing her mistake, she turned around to go find her car.

“The guy got out, and they saw he had a gun,” Shearer told KXAN. “And they tried to speed off, and he shot his gun, like five times or so, into the car.”

Roth was grazed by one of the bullets and was treated at the scene.

Shearer identified the critically injured girl is identified as Payton Washington, a senior varsity cheerleader at a high school in Round Rock ISD.

Woodlands Elite has created a GoFundMe account to assist the family with medical expenses.

“Payton was shot twice and badly injured,” the GoFundMe account states. “She is stable in the ICU and will have a long road to recovery.”

The account had raised more than $82,000 of its $100,000 goal at the time this story was published.

Washington was accepted to Baylor University, where she will join the national acrobatics and tumbling team this fall, according to the university website.

“Payton is a strong young lady; if you know her, you know that about her,” Felecia Mulkey, Baylor’s acrobatics and tumbling coach, said in a news release, ABC News reported.

“She’s an amazing athlete but a better human, and that’s why she’s part of our Baylor family. 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.”

Did the Police Find the Suspect?

The H-E-B store manager witnessed the suspect shooting at the vehicle multiple times before fleeing the area, according to the warrant affidavit obtained by The Epoch Times.

Officers worked through the night to locate and arrest the suspect, Pedro Tello Rodriguez, 25, who police said was charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony.

Rodriguez remains in custody at the Bastrop County Jail and is held on a $500,000 bond.