Global Courant 2023-04-19 21:19:25
The Texas cheerleader who was shot after a friend accidentally got into the wrong car in a grocery store parking lot is now recovering in ICU, her father said in an interview Wednesday. Born with only one lung, the star athlete has been described by her father as “tough as they come”.
Payton Washington, 18, was shot in the leg and back in the gunfire that erupted around 12:15 a.m. Tuesday in an HEB parking lot in Elgin, her father, Kelan Washington, said.
Payton, a cheerleader with Woodlands Elite Cheer Co., was on his way home from practice with three other friends when they were shot at by a 25-year-old suspect, who has since been arrested.
Washington said a girl was harmed by a bullet and treated at the scene and released, but Payton was more seriously injured. She was transported by helicopter to a hospital in critical condition, Elgin police said.
Payton’s father said doctors removed Payton’s spleen and she is now stable in the ICU at Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
“Payton accomplished everything she has with just one lung (of) when she was born. She’s tough as can be,’ he said.
Shooting
The shooting occurred when four cheerleaders with Woodlands Elite Cheer Co pulled up in an HEB parking lot, where some members had parked their cars, on their way home from practice, gym owner Lynn Shearer told NBC affiliate KXAN from Austin.
Washington said the HEB was a “designated carpool place.” He said his daughter Payton had been attending Woodlands Elite in Houston for nearly 10 years and was well acquainted with the commute from Houston to her home of Round Rock, about 170 miles away.
At the HEB, one of the girls accidentally tried to get into the wrong car, Shearer said.
Then, she said, a man got out and they saw he had a gun. And so they tried to drive away, and he fired his shotgun into the car about five times.
Payton’s father verified Shearer’s story about the wrong car.
“He raised his hands and then waved his gun and then just started firing at the girls,” said Washington, noting that the gunman didn’t exchange words.
He was shocked that the suspect resorted to opening fire.
“You saw her walking up to your door by accident. It’s a girl in a cheerleader outfit,” he said.
Elgin police said “information suggests an altercation occurred in the H.E.B. parking lot and multiple shots were fired at a vehicle.” Two of the girls in the car were hit by gunfire.
Suspect Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr, 25, was taken into custody and charged with deadly conduct. The investigation is still ongoing, police said.
Washington said the other girls are “doing well” in the aftermath of the shooting and supporting Payton.
‘They’re family. Those girls are actually Payton’s sisters in spirit and team camaraderie,” he said. “Of course they are very worried about their sister, they are very worried about their leader. Payton was the leader of these cheerleading squads in Houston.
A leading cheerleader who won a tumbling scholarship
Since the news of the shooting, there has been an outpouring of support on social media for the affected cheerleaders.
A prayer was held on Tuesday, organized by Woodlands Elite. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page organized by the Woodlands Elite Generals to raise money to cover her hospital expenses had raised more than $71,000 by Wednesday.
Payton has been a top athlete since she was a toddler and is always looking for the next challenge, her father said.
She started gymnastics when she was just 18 months old, but then “she wanted more dynamic movement.”
“She was drawn to watching cheers and tumbling and just felt like she had to do it. She had to go there and learn how to run that stuff. She really had to learn how to do all those moves that she can do as a left-hander. And she did it alone,” Washington said.
She is currently in her senior year of high school and has already received a tumbling scholarship to attend Baylor University upon graduation.
Payton has yet to undergo surgery. Although heavily sedated and “in and out,” she’s been able to talk to her many visitors when she’s awake, her father said.
He said the family is currently leaning on their faith and “Payton’s undeniable will to settle for nothing”.
The family is also grateful for the support they have received from the community and beyond.
“Just everyone rallying around Payton, it’s pretty refreshing,” he said.
He called his daughter “beautiful inside and out.” She makes everyone around her a better person, a better athlete, a better student, a better Christian. Everything.”
Speaking of the suspect, Washington said his family “definitely want responsibility.”
“This young man is dealing with the next phone call, his own memory and reflection of what he’s done and whatever God has for him. That’s a sentence in itself that he has to work through,” he said.
