Four cheerleaders were shot at Monday night in the parking lot of a Texas grocery store, after one apparently got into the wrong car by mistake, according to authorities, local news reports and the cheerleading team.
Two of the young athletes were hit by gunfire, with one taken to the hospital in critical condition, authorities said.
A suspect was arrested in connection with the shooting as well as another related shooting nearby, the Elgin Police Department said. Pedro Tello Rodriguez, Jr., 25, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony in Texas. Authorities said at the time that additional charges could be filed as the investigation remained active.
Police did not say what led to the altercation but one of the victims told CBS affiliate KHOU she thought she was getting into her own car when she noticed a man in the passenger seat. She said she tried to apologize but the man pulled out a gun and started shooting and she was grazed in the leg by a bullet, the station reported.
"She’s really a huge face in the all-star cheerleading world," Lynne Shearer, the owner of the Woodlands Elite Cheer Co., said. "She’s a mentor and role model to so many kids in this industry. https://t.co/cazT9JP0DT
— KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) April 19, 2023
The shooting happened outside of an H-E-B supermarket in Elgin — about 25 miles from Austin — where the athletes had stopped while driving home from cheerleading practice, KHOU reported. Lynn Shearer, the owner of Woodlands Elite Cheer Co., told the station that the women use her gym to train.
Shearer identified the seriously injured athlete injured as 18-year-old Payton Washington, a high school senior from Round Rock, Texas, who people on social media have called a "role model" for her peers.
"She's really a huge face in the all-star cheerleading world," Shearer told KHOU. "She's a mentor and role model to so many kids in this industry. She's an amazing athlete, amazing kid, so everybody knows her and everybody's praying for her..."
The Woodlands Elite Generals cheerleading team has organized a GoFundMe page seeking $75,000 for Washington's medical expenses. The athlete was "shot twice and badly injured," according to the campaign description, which said that she was stable and recovering in an intensive care unit.
