Store owner to be returned to California in girl's shooting

A Southern California store owner has agreed to be taken in custody from a Las Vegas jail to California to face charges after shots fired at shoplifters hit a 9-year-old girl instead

A Southern California store owner agreed Friday to be taken from a Las Vegas jail to California to face charges after a 9-year-old girl was wounded as shots were fired at shoplifters.

Marqel Cockrell, 20, stood in court to tell a judge he understood that authorities had 30 days to extradite him to the desert city of Victorville. He was not represented by an attorney.

Cockrell is being held at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, a nearly three-hour drive on Interstate 15 from Victorville, where police said he faces at least one attempted murder charge. Cockrell is accused of fleeing to Nevada after mistakenly shooting the girl three days ago.

The girl, identified by family members as Ava Chruniak, had been waiting with relatives to have her photo taken with the Easter bunny at the Mall of Victor Valley when she was wounded, with one bullet fracturing an arm bone, said Robin Moraga-Saldarelli, her grandmother.

Police said in a statement that Cockrell co-owns the shoe store Sole Addicts and was chasing shoplifters at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when he fired shots that “instead hit the 9-year-old female victim.”

Cockrell drove away before police arrived. He was arrested by Nevada Highway Patrol troopers.