HOUSTON: Two African American teenage cheerleaders were shot after one of them mistakenly opened the door to a wrong vehicle at a supermarket parking lot near Austin, the capital city of south central US state of Texas, local media reported on Wednesday.
The suspect, a 25-year-old white identified as Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr, was taken into custody hours later on Tuesday in Elgin, about a 50-minute drive from Austin, the Elgin Police Department said in a news release, reported Xinhua.
Officers responded to the shooting at an H-E-B supermarket parking lot just after midnight Tuesday.
One teenager was rushed by helicopter to a hospital and was in critical condition, while the other was treated at the scene, the release said.
Local media outlet KPRC reported that the two teens are members of an elite Houston-area cheerleading team. They had just finished a practice session in preparation for an upcoming competition before the shooting.
Upon returning to commute in a carpool with another two teammates, one of the girls opened the door of a car that she thought was hers and saw a man sitting on the passenger side. When she realised it was not the right car, she ran back to the car with the girls, KPRC reported.
“I saw the guy get out of the passenger door. And I rolled my window down, and I was trying to apologise to him… and my window was halfway down, and he just threw his hands up and he pulled out a gun, and then he just started shooting at all of us,” cheerleader Heather Roth said during a prayer vigil Tuesday night that was broadcast on Instagram Live.
Roth was grazed by a bullet, but another girl, Payton Washington, was shot twice and badly injured, according to a GoFundMe spearheaded by her cheerleading company, Woodlands Elite Generals.
The suspect has been charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony. Police said additional charges could be filed. – BERNAMA-XINHUA
