A Texas all-star cheerleader was airlifted to a hospital early Tuesday after her teammate mistook a stranger’s vehicle for her own, resulting in gunshots.
(Video: KHOU 11)
Payton Washington, 18, is a student at Stony Point High School outside Austin, Texas and a competitive cheerleader with the Woodlands Elite Cheer Company located in the Houston area. According to the Elgin Police Department, shortly after midnight Tuesday they were dispatched to a local H-E-B supermarket where multiple shots had been fired.
Speaking with the cheer company owner, Lynne Shearer, KHOU reported that Washington and three teammates had used the parking lot to carpool to practice and were on their way home when Heather Roth had confused her car with another. After attempting to get in, she realized her mistake when she saw a man seated in the passenger seat.
By her own account to KPRC, Roth said, “I see the guy get out of the passenger door. And I rolled my window down, and I was trying to apologize to him. 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 was grazed with a bullet while Washington was struck twice; once in the leg and once in the back.
“It was a harrowing night for all four of those girls,” Shearer said to Fox 7.
The police went on to report, “Officers worked through the night to identify and locate the suspect who was identified as 25-year-old, Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr. Subsequently, Tello Rodriguez Jr. was taken into custody and charged with Deadly Conduct, a third-degree felony.”
KHOU 11 noted that Washington had signed on to be a future member of the Baylor University acrobatic and tumbling team, an achievement earned despite having only one lung. Shearer said, “She literally was born with one lung, so she from the very beginning as a baby, she wasn’t even expected to survive, let alone, excel in athletics, so she’s surpassed a lot of things already.”
The cheerleader was reportedly still recovering in the ICU and this was the third widely reported incident of a victim being shot after being in the wrong place. As previously reported, Ralph Yarl had been shot after supposedly arriving at the wrong home to pick up his younger brothers and frightening the 84-year-old homeowner who now faces two felony charges.
Similarly, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis had been shot and killed in upstate New York Saturday after she was said to have pulled into the wrong driveway, along with others, while looking for a friend’s home. The 65-year-old homeowner reportedly fired twice from his porch.
Washington had been expected to compete in her last All-Star World Championships this coming weekend and Shearer said, “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.”
Crowdfunding efforts were started by her cheerleading team to raise money for her medical expenses and, at the time of this posting, almost three-quarters of the $100,000 goal had been reached. An online vigil was scheduled to show support across the country Shearer noted, “She’s literally an icon in the world of all-star cheerleader. I mean, definitely at our gym, but literally all around the country she has so many little kids look up to her.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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