WASHINGTON - Two cheerleaders were shot in a Texas carpark after one mistakenly tried to enter the wrong car, part of a spate of similar incidents this week in the United States.
The gunman fired multiple shots at the women, seriously wounding one, police reported.
The shooting early on Tuesday came days after a black teenager was shot in Missouri after ringing the wrong doorbell, and a young woman was shot dead in New York state after showing up at an incorrect address.
In Texas, four cheerleaders – reported to be teenagers – were at the grocery store carpark to carpool to cheerleading practice. They had returned to pick up their vehicles after midnight.
Ms Heather Roth said she got out of her friend’s car and went to what she believed was her vehicle and opened the door, before realising a man was sitting inside. She then returned to her friend’s car.
“I see the guy get out of the passenger door and I roll my window down and I was trying to apologise,” she said in a video shared by ABC affiliate KTRK.
“He just threw his hands up and then he pulled out a gun, and started shooting at all of us.”
A 25-year-old suspect, Pedro Tello Rodriguez, has been arrested and charged with deadly conduct, with the possibility of more charges, said the police.
One cheerleader, identified by local media as Ms Payton Washington, “sustained serious injuries and was transported to the hospital by helicopter”, police said.
A GoFundMe campaign – which had raised nearly US$70,000 (S$93,400) as at Wednesday – said “Payton was shot twice and badly injured”. It added: “She is stable in the ICU (intensive care unit) and will have a long road to recovery.”
Ms Roth suffered a graze wound and was treated on scene, KTRK said.
The girls made an approximately 580km round trip three times a week to participate in an elite competitive cheerleading team.
Deadly shootings are a regular occurrence in the US, a country of around 330 million people and an estimated 400 million guns.
In Missouri, 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot twice after ringing the wrong doorbell while trying to pick up his twin brothers.
The suspected shooter, an elderly white man, surrendered to the authorities and on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to assault and armed criminal action, according to US media reports.
The 20-year-old woman in New York state was shot dead by a home owner on Saturday night when she showed up with three others at the wrong address when trying to find a friend’s house. AFP
