2 Texas cheerleaders shot after 1 gets into wrong car

Two high school cheerleaders were shot after one of them apparently approached the wrong vehicle in a car park near Austin, Texas.

One of the athletes, Payton Washington, 18, remains in hospital in a critical condition, according to family. The other victim was treated at the scene.

Their cheer company called the shooting at 00:15 local time (05:15 GMT) on Tuesday “horrific”.

Police charged Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr, 25, with “deadly conduct”.

The shooting happened outside a supermarket in Elgin, about 25 miles from Austin.

Elgin police said: “Information suggests that an altercation occurred in the parking lot, and multiple shots were fired into a vehicle.”

Members of Ms Washington’s cheerleading squad held a prayer vigil on Tuesday night.

The team is preparing to compete at the Cheerleading Worlds in Orlando, Florida, over the weekend without their teammate.

During the ceremony, one of the athletes who was grazed by a bullet in her leg described how quickly the scene unfolded, according to local media.

Cheerleader Heather Roth said she got out of her friend’s car to get into her own vehicle, but mistakenly picked the wrong car.

There was a man in the passenger seat, so she retreated back to her friend’s vehicle.

“I see the guy get out of the passenger door. And I rolled my window down, and I was trying to apologise to him… and he just threw his hands up and he pulled out a gun and he just started shooting at all of us,” she said.

The Woodlands Elite Generals cheerleading team has organised a GoFundMe page for Ms Washington’s medical expenses. The fundraiser says she was “shot twice and badly injured”. (BBC)

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