# Shooting of Payton Washington

Just after midnight on April 18, 2023, competitive cheerleaders Payton Washington and Heather Roth were shot and wounded after Roth mistakenly entered a vehicle she had thought to be hers in an H-E-B supermarket parking lot in Elgin, Texas. Washington and Roth were part of a four-person group of cheerleaders who were using the parking lot to carpool from the Round Rock area to Woodlands Elite Cheer Company in Oak Ridge North for practice, a 360-mile round trip.
The shooting gained notoriety for being one of four shootings that occurred in a one-week period in the US that were characterized by young people being met with gunfire after making a mistake. The cheerleaders were shot five days after the shooting of Ralph Yarl in Kansas City, Missouri after he rang the wrong doorbell, three days after the shooting of Kaylin Gillis in Hebron, New York after she entered the wrong driveway, and earlier on the same day that Kinsley White and her parents were shot by a neighbor in Gastonia, North Carolina, when her basketball rolled into his yard.

## Incident

Payton Washington, aged 18, Heather Roth, aged 21, and two other Woodlands Elite Cheer Company cheerleaders were returning to their vehicles in the H-E-B parking lot when Roth mistakenly opened the door of a vehicle she thought to be hers, and found Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr. in the passenger seat. After initially panicking and thinking there was a stranger in her car, she got inside the vehicle of one of her friends. Rodriguez then exited his vehicle, and Roth rolled down the car window to apologize to him, but he threw up his hands and opened fire, wounding her and Washington.
After shooting the two women, Rodriguez fled the scene and went to his house, where he was arrested by police. The H-E-B manager witnessed the shooting and identified him as the suspect.

## Victims

Two of the cheerleaders were wounded in the shooting. Heather Roth was grazed by a bullet, but Payton Washington was shot twice, in the leg and in the back, and was critically wounded. As a result of her injuries, Washington had to have her spleen removed. Washington spent a week in the hospital and several months of rehabilitation. In April 2024, Washington helped Baylor University win its ninth consecutive cheerleading national title. She was named an National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association All-American and Division I Freshman of the Year.

## Accused

The suspect was identified as 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., an Elgin resident at the time of the shooting. Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr. was arrested in connection with the shooting later the same day after the supermarket manager identified him and surveillance footage connected him to the incident. In August 2024, he was charged with two felony counts, including deadly conduct discharging a firearm and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. At his first hearing on November 6, 2024, his attorney stated: "Pedro was understandably startled by the sudden intrusion by Ms. Washington. Pedro believed he was about to be robbed. Pedro had been robbed at gunpoint previously...Pedro continues to wish Ms. Washington a full recovery." The next court hearing is scheduled for February 12, 2025.