A Texas cheerleader shot after getting into the wrong parked car broke her silence as her friend remains in critical condition.
Heather Roth, 21, was shot by the man whose car she accidentally got into while in an Elgin carpool lot after a late-night practice at Woodlands Elite Cheer Co. on Monday.
Her friend, Payton Washington, 18, suffered multiple gunshot wounds in her leg and back and suffered damage to multiple organs and had her spleen removed.
Washington was airlifted to the hospital after throwing up blood at an H-E-B supermarket parking lot. Meanwhile, Roth was treated and discharged.
Speaking to a group of people at Woodlands Elite on Tuesday, Roth shared her grief saying, ‘Nobody deserves anything like this.’
Suspect Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr, 25, was arrested and charged with a third-degree felony in connection to 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 in a Elgin carpool lot after a late night practice at Woodlands Elite Cheer Co on Monday
Payton Washington, 18, suffered multiple gunshot wounds in her leg and back and ultimately suffered 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 to the shooting. He is being held on $500,000 bond
At the time of the incident, there were two other girls with Roth and Washington that weren’t injured. They were identified as Kiana and Genesis.
Roth, who suffered a graze wound 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 vehicle in the H-E-B parking lot.
At first Roth didn’t initially see Rodriguez but when she did, she began to panic thinking there was a stranger in her car.
She quickly got back into her friend’s car, but the suspect whose vehicle she had tried to get into then approached them.
‘As we’re backing up, I see the guy get out of the passenger door, and I roll my window down, and I was trying to apologize to him,’ Roth said on Tuesday.
‘And then he…threw his hands up, and he pulled out a gun, and then, he just started shooting at all of us.’
Roth then recalled the agony from her friend: ‘Payton opens the door, and she starts throwing up blood.’
According to an affidavit, the H-E-B manager witnessed the gunman ‘shoot at the vehicle multiple times’ before fleeing.
Washington’s mom, Heather, said ‘the passenger side of the car was riddled in bullet holes.’
Washington (center left) was airlifted to the hospital after throwing up blood at an H-E-B supermarket parking lot. Meanwhile, Roth (center right) was treated and discharged
Payton Washington immediately started throwing up after she was shot in the back and leg
Speaking to fellow cheerleaders, Roth recalled the moment she accidentally got into the suspects car and when he started shooting
Washington’s mom, Heather, said ‘the passenger side of the car riddled in bullet holes.’ Pictured: Payton Washington
Speaking to a group of people at Woodlands Elite on Tuesday, Roth shared her grief saying, ‘Nobody deserves anything like this’
Payton Washington is a senior at a high school in Round Rock, and was set to attend Baylor University this year on a scholarship.
The ordeal has been described as a ‘senseless and random act of violence’ by her cheerleading squad Woodlands Elite Generals, who set up a GoFundMe to help 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 about Washington, she added: ‘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.
‘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.’
The cheerleaders were leaving The Woodlands area to head back to their carpool meeting spot before they were shot.
