Shot Texas cheerleader ‘stable’ after doctors removed her spleen, dad says

A star Texas cheerleader who was shot in the back when a teammate mistakenly got into the wrong car after practice is in “stable” condition after doctors removed her spleen, her father said.

Payton Washington, 18, of Round Rock is recovering in an Austin intensive care unit with a fighter’s spirit — despite being born with just one lung, her dad said Wednesday

“Payton’s accomplished everything she has with only one lung [from] when she was born. She’s as tough as they come,” the father, Kelan Washington, told NBC.

The high school senior, who led Woodlands Elite Cheer in Houston, was with a group of cheerleaders when one of them accidentally tried to climb into the wrong vehicle to car-pool home Monday — prompting 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr. to allegedly open fire in the parking lot.

Washington was struck by a bullet in the back and leg and rushed in critical condition from the supermarket carpool site to a hospital, where she had multiple surgeries.

“[The shooter] raised his hands and then brandished his weapon and then just started shooting at the girls,” Kelan said — adding the gunman said nothing before pulling the trigger five times.

The distraught dad was bewildered by why anyone would feel threatened by his daughter, who has a petite build and was wearing her cheerleading practice clothes.

“You watched her walk up to your door by accident — it’s a girl in a cheer outfit,” he said.

During the shooting, one of  Washington’s teammates, Heather Roth, was grazed by a bullet, treated and released at the scene.

Other cheerleaders in the group are doing “fine” in the wake of the shootings and showering Washington with support, said Kelan.

“They’re family. Those girls are Payton’s sisters basically in spirit and in team camaraderie,” he said. “Everybody [is] rallying around Payton, it’s pretty refreshing.”

“Of course they’re very concerned about their sister, they’re very concerned about their leader. Payton was the leader of this cheer squad in Houston.”

He described his daughter as “beautiful inside and out” and said she has earned a tumbling scholarship to attend Baylor University after graduation.

Washington was resting up at the Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas in Austin Thursday.

“She’s a fighter. She’s very strong,” her coach Lynne Shearer told ABC. “We are hopeful she will make a full recovery.”

Rodriguez Jr. was arrested and charged with third-degree deadly conduct Tuesday.