Star high school cheerleaders are shot after one accidentally got into the wrong car

Two All-Star high school cheerleaders were shot after one of them accidentally got into the wrong car in a parking lot in Elgin, Texas.

Payton Washington, 18, and Heather Roth were shot multiple times by a man sitting in a vehicle Roth mistakenly got into as they tried to carpool home from practice.

Washington was hit in the leg and back, and was airlifted to hospital on April 17 after she started ‘throwing up blood’ at the parking lot of an H-E-B supermarket.

Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr, 25, was arrested and charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony, following the shooting.

All-Star cheerleader Washington suffered damage to multiple organs and had her spleen removed – and is now expected to undergo additional surgeries, according to her coach.

Roth suffered a graze wound and was treated at the scene.

Roth explained that she got out of her friends car just after midnight, and opened the door to what she thought was her own vehicle in the H-E-B parking lot.

There was a man sitting in the passengers seat – causing her to panic, because she thought there was a stranger in her car.

She quickly got back into her friend’s car, but the man whose vehicle she had tried to get into then approached them.

Roth rolled down her window to apologize for the confusion, but the man then threw his hands up and started shooting at them.

According to an affidavit, the H-E-B manager witnessed the gunman ‘shoot at the vehicle multiple times’ before fleeing.

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.

According to Heather’s mother Alice, there were four girls in total in the car when the gunman opened fire.

The shooter left ‘the passenger side of the car riddled in bullet holes.’

The other two cheerleaders have been named locally as Kiana and Genesis.

Police said ‘Information suggests that an altercation occurred in the parking lot of HEB, and multiple shots were fired into a vehicle.

‘Two occupants of the vehicle were struck by gun fire. One victim was treated and released on scene.

‘The other sustained serious injuries and was transported to the hospital by helicopter, where they remain in critical condition.’

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.

Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr could face anywhere between two and 10 years in prison for the third-degree felony.