Texas cheerleader shot trying to get into wrong car says ‘no one deserves this’
A Texas cheerleader who was shot after getting into the wrongly parked car broke her silence as her friend is in critical condition.
Heather Roth, 21, was shot by the man whose car she accidentally got into while standing in an Elgin carpool lot after an all-night workout at Woodlands Elite Cheer Co. on Monday.
Her boyfriend, Payton Washington, 18, suffered multiple gunshot wounds to her leg and back and damage to multiple organs and had her spleen removed.
Washington was airlifted to the hospital after vomiting blood in the parking lot of an HEB supermarket. Meanwhile, Roth was treated and discharged.
Speaking to a group of people at Woodlands Elite on Tuesday, Roth shared her grief by saying, “Nobody deserves something like that.”
Suspect Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr, 25, was arrested and charged with a third degree felony in connection with the shooting. He is being held on $500,000 bond.
Heather Roth, 21, was shot by the man whose car she accidentally got into while standing in an Elgin carpool lot after an all-night workout at Woodlands Elite Cheer Co on Monday
Payton Washington, 18, suffered multiple gunshot wounds to her leg and back and eventually sustained damage to multiple organs and had her spleen removed
Suspect Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr, 25, was arrested and charged with a third degree felony in connection with the shooting. He is being held on $500,000 bond
At the time of the incident, two other girls were with Roth and Washington who were not injured. They were identified as Kiana and Genesis.
Roth, who suffered an abrasion and was treated at the scene, explained the series of events leading up to the shooting to the Woodlands group.
Roth got out of her friend’s car just after midnight and opened the door to what she thought was her own car in the HEB lot.
At first, Roth didn’t see Rodriguez at first, but when she did, she started to panic, thinking there was a stranger in her car.
She quickly got back into her boyfriend’s car, but the suspect whose vehicle she had tried to get in approached them.
“As we’re reversing, I see the guy get out the passenger door, and I roll down my window, and I tried to apologize to him,” Roth said Tuesday.
“And then … he put his hands in the air and pulled out a gun, and then he started shooting at all of us.”
Roth then recalled her friend’s pain: “Payton opens the door and she starts throwing up blood.”
According to an affidavit, the HEB manager witnessed the gunman “shoot several times at the vehicle” before fleeing.
Washington’s mother, Heather, said “the passenger side of the car was riddled with bullet holes.”
Washington (center left) was airlifted to the hospital after vomiting blood in the parking lot of an HEB supermarket. Meanwhile, Roth (center right) was treated and discharged
Payton Washington immediately began to vomit after being shot in the back and leg
Speaking to fellow cheerleaders, Roth recalled the moment she accidentally got into the suspect’s car and when he started shooting
Washington’s mother, Heather, said that “the passenger side of the car was riddled with bullet holes.” In the photo: Payton Washington
Speaking to a group of people at Woodlands Elite on Tuesday, Roth shared her grief, saying: ‘Nobody deserves something like that’
Payton Washington is a senior in a Round Rock high school and was due to attend Baylor University this year on a scholarship.
The ordeal has been described as a “senseless and arbitrary act of violence” by her Woodlands Elite Generals cheerleading squad, who GoFundMe to cover her medical expenses.
Lynne Shearer, the owner of Woodlands Elite Cheer, told Fox 7, “It was a harrowing night for all four of those girls.”
Speaking of Washington, she added: “She was literally born with one lung so from the very beginning as a baby she wasn’t even expected to survive let alone excel in athletics so she already has a lot of things surpassed.
“She is literally an icon in the world of all-star cheerleading. I mean, definitely in our gym, but literally all over the country she has so many little kids looking up to her.”
The cheerleaders left the Woodlands area to go back to their carpool hangout before being shot.