A Texas cheerleader remembers the shooting that took off her with a shattered spleen and holes in her stomach after her teammate accidentally got into the wrong car after practice.
Payton Washington, 18, was left with immense injuries after she, Heather Roth, 21, and two other Woodlands Elite Cheer Company teammates were allegedly attacked by Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, in April after Roth made a simple mistake in a HEB parking lot.
“My spleen was shattered. My stomach had two holes in it. And my diaphragm had two holes in it. And then they had to remove a lobe from my pancreas. I had 32 staples,” she said Good morning America (ALG).
Washington posted photos of her injuries weeks after the incident, which showed a long row of staples running the length of her abdomen.
The young woman, who graduated from high school last weekend, said she couldn’t remember much about the incident as she was “actually texting and eating Twizzlers” when the shots rang out.
Payton Washington, 18, suffered immense injuries after she, Heather Roth, 21, and two other Woodlands Elite Cheer Company teammates were allegedly attacked by Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, in April after Roth accidentally got into the wrong car in a HEB parking lot
“My spleen was shattered. My stomach had two holes in it. And my diaphragm had two holes in it. And then they had to remove a lobe from my pancreas. I had 32 staples,” Washington said
“The hardest part was after the surgeries,” she said. She has undergone intensive rehabilitation and still struggles to get out of bed and stand on her own
After Roth returned to the correct car, Rodriguez approached their vehicle moments later and began firing after the cheerleader rolled down the window to apologize.
“I didn’t think it would become such a big deal as it was. She kept saying “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” that was the last thing really said.
“When I heard the first shot, I immediately turned around with my blanket,” she continued. “I didn’t know where it was coming from or anything, but since it was so loud it made my ears ring, I knew I had to turn around and do something.”
The four girls eventually drove off to flee the rain of bullets, but Rodriguez still managed to graze Roth with a bullet and hit Washington three times in the butt and back.
“I saw blood on the passenger seat, so I knew I was bleeding somewhere, but I had so much adrenaline I didn’t really know where,” she said. “And every time we pulled up and opened the door, I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to throw up.’ And then I was throwing up blood and I was like, “Oh, that’s not normal.”
Roth (right) was scraped by a bullet, while Washington (left) was shot twice in the butt and once in the back
Rodriguez was charged with a third-degree felony for deadly conduct. He has since been released on $100,000 bail
‘And then I knew something, somewhere it wasn’t right.’
She was taken to hospital in critical condition and had to have her spleen removed.
“The hardest part was after the surgeries,” she told GMA. She has undergone intensive rehabilitation and still struggles to get out of bed and stand on her own.
“It was hard… pain when walking or standing is really weird when you did some flips a week before, ran around the track and did long jumps, and all those things,” she said.
Washington, who will be attending Baylor University in the fall, is not letting the incident hold her back.
The young woman, who graduated from high school last weekend, said she doesn’t remember much of the incident as she was “actually texting and eating Twizzlers” when it happened
Washington will be attending Baylor University in the fall and plans to tumble again in a few months
Rodriguez started firing after Roth (pictured) returned to the right car. She rolled down her window to apologize again when the gunman allegedly started shooting at them
“He did what he did, and I’m just going to try to get through it. There’s no point in me really thinking about what he did,” she told GMA. ‘You can literally do anything if you push and persevere. Never doubt yourself, because you can do anything if you put in 120% effort.’
Rodriguez was charged with a third-degree felony for deadly conduct. He has since been released on $100,000 bail.
Washington graduated from high school with a 5.1 GPA and was an honors student. Only five weeks after the shooting, she walked on stage.
She also plans to return to tumbling within the next two months, according to GMA.