‘TOUGH LITTLE KID’

Shop Owner Accidentally Shoots Little Girl Waiting for Easter Bunny Photo, Police Say

The shopkeeper was aiming at a pair of shoplifters but hit the little girl instead, according to authorities.

A California shop owner fired “multiple” rounds at a pair of shoplifters on Tuesday night—and accidentally shot a 9-year-old girl waiting in a mall line to have her photo snapped with the Easter bunny, police said. Marqel Cockrell, 20, hightailed it out of California after the shooting, but was ultimately nabbed in Nevada, according to authorities. The incident unfolded Tuesday night at the Mall of Victor Valley in Victorville, when Cockrell “fired multiple shots at the shoplifters,” police said. He missed, and instead hit the 9-year-old, whom family has identified as Ava Chruniak. The little girl’s grandma, Robin Moraga-Saldarelli, said she was waiting to take a photo with the Easter bunny when she was shot three times. Moraga-Saldarelli told Fox 11 TV that one of the bullets left her with a bone fracture. “And it’s the kind of fracture they can’t surgically fix. She’s going to have to wear a special brace for it, and it’s going to take a lot longer to heal,” the grandmother said. “It’ll be awhile before the bone heals and then we will see the extent of the nerve damage, but she’s a trooper. She really is a tough little kid.” Cockrell is being held on $1 million bail on an attempted murder warrant, cops said.