A 9-year-old girl's recent mall trip ended with gunshot injury.
On Tuesday night, gunfire rang out at a mall northeast of Los Angeles and the girl was allegedly shot, reported New York Post. The incident happened near a Barnes & Noble store at the Mall of Victor Valley in Victorville around 6:30 pm.
A woman told FOX 11 Los Angeles that the man opened fire when her granddaughter Ava Rose was getting ready to take pictures with the Easter bunny. This sent shoppers scrambling to safety and injuring the young girl. Police said that deputies responding to the shooting found the girl suffering from at least one gunshot wound, and was airlifted to a hospital in stable condition.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday that 20-year-old Marqel Cockrell was arrested in Nevada a few hours after the shooting, according to USA Today. Cockrell, who is co-owner of the shoe store Sole Addicts at the mall, did not intend to shoot the girl, according to the sheriff's department. Instead, he was chasing two shoplifters out of his store. Police statement said that Cockrell’s shots "missed the shoplifters and instead hit the 9-year-old female victim."
The mall reopened Wednesday morning after it remained closed for the remainder of the evening. The suspect fled the the mall before they arrived, said deputies. Cockrell was found in his car by Nevada Highway Patrol and then he was arrested, the sheriff's department said. He is placed at a Clark County, Nevada jail on a warrant for attempted murder, and his bail was set at $1 million.
Meanwhile, the girl continues to recover from her injuries sustained in the shooting after being released from the hospital Thursday. Her family shared that her right arm is shattered and there is nerve damage, so a surgery will be conducted later. The girl's mother said that she was in a lot of pain and doesn't understand why she can't go back to school with her friends. To help with her medical expenses, a GoFundMe page has been set up.
Multiple shootings were seen in the Mall of Victor Valley last year. One happened in November, and it left a 35-year-old man dead and a girl, 8, and her brother, 19, injured.
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