‘Miraculous recovery’: Cops give 2-year-old girl ‘Bravery Award’

A 2-year-old girl who made a “miraculous recovery” after accidentally shooting herself last month with a gun police say was dropped by a fleeing teen boy in Las Vegas received a “Bravery Award” Sunday from the Metropolitan Police Department.

Deputy Chief Reggie Rader presented the award to the toddler, Ava Dieguez, along with officers from Metro’s Northeast Command who arrived at the shooting scene on Nov. 3 and came to her aid along with city fire paramedics, according to a YouTube video posted by the department.

“Here we are a month later and this girl has made a miraculous recovery,” Rader said on the video.

The girl was walking and smiling, holding the Bravery Award plaque with her name on it. She went on a brief ride in a fire engine with her siblings, receiving a “My Little Pony” toy as a gift and eating pizza amid party balloons while watching a children’s animated movie.

She shot herself with a gun allegedly left behind by 16-year-old Tshaun Rucker, at about 10:40 a.m., moments after an adult teenager was shot on an RTC bus near Kell Lane and North Nellis Boulevard, according to police.

Following the bus shooting, the suspected shooter jumped the wall by a day care center and abandoned the firearm on the playground. The girl then picked it up and the gun fired a shot, wounding her, police said.

When officers got there, they “found the little girl fighting for her life,” according to a department news release.

The girl recovered and Rucker is facing charges of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, two counts of discharging a gun in an occupied structure, child abuse with substantial bodily harm and disregard for the safety of a person with substantial bodily harm, according to Justice Court records,

Rucker, who is out of custody and is being tried as an adult, is set to appear at a preliminary hearing on Monday, court records show.

Northeast Command officers wanted to present the bravery award to her to show her “our appreciation in her accomplishment” and for “her being a survivor, her resiliency in getting over this entire incident,” Rader said.

The command also distributed award plaques to her siblings “for being there for their sibling while she was going through that process,” he said.

The police officers “have adopted this little girl because no one should have to go through that,” he said.

Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on X.