Police have arrested a suspect who allegedly shot two high school cheerleaders in Texas after one teenager accidentally opened the door to the wrong vehicle early Tuesday morning. One of the teen girls was critically injured in the shooting, officials said.
The incident occurred in the parking lot of a H-E-B grocery store in Elgin, about 40 miles east of Austin, Texas. The group of at least four cheerleaders left a late-night practice around midnight and had reportedly parked their cars at the grocery store.
Apparently, one of the cheerleaders attempted to enter a car that was not theirs, and upon discovering the mistake, promptly left to return to their friend’s car. According to multiple reports, a man in the wrong car, now identified as Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, proceeded to approach the cheerleaders’ car and open fire into the vehicle.
On Tuesday evening, police in Elgin said they arrested Rodriguez in connection to the shooting. He was charged with “deadly conduct,” a third-degree felony, as per a police statement. The charge carries a potential 10-year maximum prison sentence.
The Elgin Police Department said their units were dispatched to the scene of the shooting at approximately 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday. They claim multiple shots were fired into a vehicle.
“Two occupants of the vehicle were struck by gun fire,” police wrote. “One victim was treated and released on scene. The other sustained serious injuries and was transported to hospital by helicopter, where they remain in critical condition.”
Woodlands Elite Cheer Co., the competitive cheer facility where the teens practiced, confirmed four of their female cheerleaders, Payton, Keyona, Heather and Genesis, were involved in the shooting.
The facility created a GoFundMe page on Tuesday to support the critically injured cheerleader, Payton Washington, which said she was “badly injured” after she was shot twice.
“She is stable in the ICU and will have a long road to recovery,” Woodlands Elite Cheer Co. wrote.
The GoFundMe page has already received over $US84,000 in donations to help Washington and her family pay for medical expenses.
The second wounded cheerleader, Heather Roth, said she is the one who wrongfully approached the vehicle that she thought was her own. According to ABC News, when she opened the door, she found a man sitting in the passenger seat. Roth said she returned to her friend’s car, but the shooter allegedly followed. She said she rolled down her window to apologize, then shots were fired.
Roth suffered only a graze wound. She said Washington was shot in the leg and the back and was vomiting blood.
Lynn Shearer, owner of Woodlands Elite Cheer Co., told local NBC affiliate KXAN that the four girls involved in the shooting were “just trying to get home” from cheer practice.
When Roth opened the door, Shearer said “the guy got out and they saw that he had a gun. They tried to speed off, and he shot his gun, like five times or so into the car.”
“These kids have grown up in our gym. We’ve known them for years, some of them literally, since they were, you know, 8, 10 years old,” she continued. “So, they’re like our family.”
Police have said the investigation is ongoing. Additional or enhanced charges may still be filed.
This shooting comes amid two other separate incidents in the U.S. where someone was shot for mistakenly approaching the wrong address.
Last week, 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot twice — once in the head and once in the arm — by an 84-year-old homeowner when he confused the address of where he was to pick up his younger siblings in Kansas City, Mo.
Only two days later, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis was shot and killed by a homeowner in upstate New York after she turned her vehicle into the wrong driveway.
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