Two cheerleaders were shot after one of the women got into a man’s car, mistakenly thinking it was hers.
According to WKYT, Heather Roth got out of her friend’s car and into a car she thought was hers. Seeing that a man was in the passenger seat, Roth got scared and rushed back to her friend’s car. However, the man exited the passenger seat of the car he was sitting in, approached Roth’s friend’s car, and shot Roth and her friend.
A bullet grazed Roth while her friend and teammate, Payton Washington, was shot in the leg and back, according to WKYT.
Roth was treated at the scene. Unfortunately, the outlet reports that Washington was flown to a hospital, where she is in critical condition, and had to have part of her spleen removed.
Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, was arrested and charged with engaging in deadly conduct.
Washington is a cheerleader at a high school in Round Rock, Texas, north of Austin. Lynne Shearer, the owner of Woodlands Elite Cheer Company, told WKYT that Washington was born with one lung yet was the star of the team and had already committed to Baylor University’s acrobatics and tumbling team.
“She’s really a huge face in the all-star cheerleading world,” Shearer said. “She’s a mentor and role model to so many kids in this industry. She’s an amazing athlete, an amazing kid, so everybody knows her and everybody’s praying for her.”
Roth and Washington’s shooting comes after Kansas City, Missouri, teen Ralph Yarl, who is Black, was shot twice after going to the wrong address to pick up his siblings. Also, in upstate New York, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis, who is white, was fatally shot by 65-year-old Kevin Monahan after she turned into the wrong driveway while looking for a friend’s house.