ELGIN, Texas — Payton Washington, one of two Texas cheerleaders shot in April after her friend accidentally opened the door of the wrong car, is speaking out for the first time since the attack that left her in critical condition.
“My spleen was shattered. My stomach had two holes in it. And my diaphragm had two holes in it. And then they had to remove a lobe from my pancreas. I had 32 staples,” said Washington.
Washington, 18, described the terrifying incident in an exclusive interview Friday with “Good Morning America” co-anchor Michael Strahan.
“I was actually texting and (eating) Twizzlers,” Washington said of the moments before someone opened the door of her teammate’s car.
Advertisement
Just after midnight on April 18, Washington and three of her fellow teammates with the Woodlands Elite Cheer Company finished practice and were in the HEB parking lot in Elgin, Texas.
‘It’s a girl in a cheer outfit’: Dad says his daughter couldn’t have looked intimidating to shooter
One teammate, Heather Roth, 21, opened the door of a vehicle that she thought was hers, but a stranger, later identified by police as Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, was in the passenger seat.
Roth, who later spoke out on Instagram Live after the incident, said she got out of the car and went back to her friend’s vehicle where the three other cheerleaders, including Washington, were sitting. According to authorities, Rodriguez allegedly approached the vehicle with the cheerleaders, and when Roth rolled down the window to apologize, Rodriguez opened fire on the four cheerleaders, injuring Roth and shooting Washington three times.
Washington told Strahan she acted on instinct at the moment.
Advertisement
“I turned immediately with my blanket,” she said. “I didn’t know where it was coming from or anything, but it being so loud that my ears were ringing, I knew to turn and do something.”
The cheerleaders drove off while the shots continued to fire. Washington said she began to notice she was having trouble breathing and realized she had been shot.
“We were tryin’ to get away. I really was just telling myself to breathe. It was hard to breathe because of my diaphragm,” she said. “I was trying to stay as calm as possible for the other people in the car. I could tell how sad and scared they were.”
Very quickly, she knew “something was wrong.” “I saw blood on (my passenger) seat. So I knew somewhere I was bleeding. But I had so much adrenaline, I didn’t really know where,” said Washington. “And then whenever we pulled over and opened the door, I was like, ‘Oh, gotta throw up.’ And that’s when I was throwing up blood.”
Rodriguez allegedly fled the scene, but was later arrested at his home, according to court documents. He’s since been charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony, said police. Rodriguez’s bail was initially set at $500,000 but was reduced to $100,000, according to his attorney. Rodriguez is currently released on bail and has yet to enter a plea.
Advertisement
This image provided by the Elgin Police Department shows Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr.
Roth, who was grazed by a bullet, was treated for her injuries and released at the scene, while Washington was helicoptered to a hospital near Austin in critical condition.
Washington went through a series of lifesaving procedures to treat the two bullets that struck her backside and a shot through her left abdomen.
However, she said “the hardest part was after the surgeries.”
Before the shooting, Washington had been accepted to Baylor University and was set to join its acrobatics and tumbling team in the fall. Now, she said simple things, like getting up from bed or standing by yourself are challenging.
Advertisement
“It was hard … hurting to walk or stand is really weird when, a week before, you were doing a bunch of flips, running the track, and doing long jump, and all this stuff,” said Washington.
But she said she won’t dwell on the past.
“He did what he did, and I’m just gonna try and get through it. There’s no point in me really thinking about what he did,” she said.
Only five weeks after the shooting, Washington joined her friends at graduation. She said she’s committed to getting her life back.
“You can literally do anything if you push and you persevere,” she said. “Don’t doubt yourself ever because you can do anything as long as you’re putting your 120% into it.”
A shark bit three people off a southern Texas beach in what the city’s fire chief called an unprecedented incident on the Fourth of July, the same day another person was bitten by a shark in Florida, officials said.
In Texas, three people were bitten in the city of South Padre Island, on a barrier island near Brownsville, and the shark was later located and “pushed out to deeper water,” Fire Chief Jim Pigg said.
“It’s unprecedented here on South Padre Island,” he said. There were two shark bite incidents at different times and locations Thursday, he said.
Police responded to a 911 call that reported “a severe shark bite to the leg” at 11 a.m., city spokesperson Nikki Soto said, and the victim was taken to a local hospital.
Advertisement
After a second 911 call about a shark attack, firefighters found two people who had been bitten by a shark, Pigg said. They were also taken to a hospital.
Kyle Jud, 46, said he saw a woman pulled from the water who appeared to have a bite to a leg.
“Beach patrol lifted her up — her calf was just gone, shredded. Horrific,” Jud said. He posted video of a shark in the water as a helicopter and a boat patrolled.
One of the victims was flown out of a Brownsville hospital for further treatment, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said.
“Shark encounters of this nature are not a common occurrence in Texas,” the department said. “When bites from sharks do occur, they are usually a case of mistaken identity by sharks looking for food.”
Advertisement
Pigg said that it has not been determined what type of shark was involved and that an investigation was underway.
Lifeguards were encouraging people in South Padre Island, a beach town of around 2,000 on the barrier island of the same name, to stay out of the water or at least to go no further than knee-deep, Pigg said.
After the shark was spotted and pushed out to deeper water, there had been no further sightings, but Pigg said officials would stay vigilant.
South Padre Island Mayor Patrick McNulty said, “Our hearts and prayers are with the injured and their families and we hope for a speedy recovery.”
In New Smyrna Beach, Florida, a 21-year-old man was bitten by a shark while he was playing football in knee-deep water around 4 p.m., said Tamra Malphurs, interim director of Volusia County Beach Safety.
Advertisement
The man, who was visiting the city on the Atlantic coast from Ohio, was taken to a hospital, and his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, Malphurs said.
There were 36 unprovoked shark attacks against humans in the U.S. last year, and two of those people died, the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File said in its most recent annual report.
The project, which documents shark attacks around the world, says that the risk of being attacked by a shark is relatively very small but that swimmers can minimize their risk even further by staying in groups and closer to shore.
With all the chaos surrounding Jim Schlossnagle’s semi-disastrous exit to head the Texas Longhorns baseball program just a day after Texas A&M’s College World Series Finals loss to Tennessee, Aggies athletic director Trev Alberts was determined to find his successor much sooner than later.
Just five days later, it was announced after interviewing nearly a dozen candidates that former hitting coach Michael Earley, who tentatively followed Schlossnagle to Austin, was hired as A&M’s 21st head coach in program history following an impressive interview coupled with current players, prospects and fellow coaches immense respect what he brings to the table.
Needing a reliable coaching staff to get him through the ups and downs of his inaugural campaign, it has been announced that two key assistant coaches have officially been hired: new associate head coach/pitching coach Jason Kelly and new recruiting director/hitting coach Caleb Longley.
Longley has spent the majority of his coaching career at Texas in the same capacity as his new duties with Texas A&M. During the 2022 season, he helped the Longhorns hit a program record 128 home runs while helping sign the No. 3-ranked 2024 recruiting class last offseason.
Advertisement
Jason Kelly’s coaching career has been fast and furious, serving as a pitching coach since 2003, and like Longley, was Arizona State’s pitching coach from 2020-2021 during the time that both Earley and Longley were on the Sun Devils staff. During his six-year run as Washington’s pitching coach, Kelly was named D1Baseball.com’s Assistant Coach of the Year during the program’s only College World Series appearance.
Before becoming LSU head coach Jay Johnson’s first hire during his transition to LSU, Kelly’s brief stint as Washington’s head coach was an immediate success. He led the Huskies to an NCAA Regional appearance during the 2023 season.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.
SAN ANTONIO – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has directed 39 Texas Emergency Management Council agencies to begin response and recovery efforts as preparations for Hurricane Beryl, a press release said Wednesday.
Abbott said he is calling for 24/7 staffing plans for the State Emergency Operations Center, in case Hurricane Beryl hits the Texas Gulf Coast.
“Texas stands ready to deploy all available resources and support to our coastal communities as Hurricane Beryl approaches the state,” Abbott said in the press release. “Today, I directed TDEM to issue an advisory notice to our emergency management agencies to ensure Texas is prepared and equipped for hurricane response and recovery efforts. As Texans around the south coastal areas make holiday plans and visitors begin to travel for the holiday weekend, I urge them to take necessary safety precautions, remain weather aware, and have an emergency plan ready for themselves and their families. State and local officials will continue to work around-the-clock to monitor statewide weather conditions and help protect Texans.”
KSAT Money: How to prepare your finances before a natural disaster
Advertisement
The press release said Texans are urged to stay informed, monitor local weather forecasts, follow directions from local officials and make an emergency plan.
Additionally, visitors that area headed to Texas beaches should review beach safety tips and be aware of the risks of rip currents during the approaching tropical system in the Gulf of Mexico, the press release states.
Texans are encouraged to visit the TDEM Disaster Portal or Texas Hurricane Center webpages for storm information. Additional storm safety and preparedness information is available at TexasReady.gov and tdem.texas.gov/prepare.
The 39 participating agencies include:
Texas Division of Emergency Management
Texas A&M University System
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service – Texas A&M Task Force 1
Texas A&M Forest Service
Texas Military Department – Texas National Guard
Texas Department of Public Safety
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Texas Department of Transportation
Public Utility Commission of Texas
Railroad Commission of TexasTexas Commission on Environmental Quality
Texas Animal Health Commission
State Comptroller of Public Accounts
Texas Commission on Fire Protection
Texas Department of Agriculture
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
