No charges against LAPD officer whose bullet fatally struck teen in Burlington store, officials say
LOS ANGELES - The California Attorney General's Office announced Wednesday that it will not pursue criminal charges against the Los Angeles Police Department officer involved in the deadly 2021 shooting that killed a teenage girl inside a North Hollywood Burlington store with a stray bullet.
"This case was a particularly challenging one to process as this involved the loss of two lives," Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. "Any loss of life is a tragedy, and my heart goes out especially to the family of Valentina Orellana Peralta, who tragically lost her life and whose only involvement in this incident was by being at the wrong place at the wrong time."
14-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta was killed on December 23, 2021 inside the Burlington store at 12121 Victory Blvd., while shopping with her mother. She was inside a second-floor dressing room, trying on Christmas dresses, when a bullet fired by Officer William Jones passed through a wall and struck her, according to officials.
Police had gone into the store in search of 24-year-old Daniel Elena Lopez, who was suspected of assaulting multiple people with a metal bicycle lock.
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Officer Jones allegedly fired a bullet at the suspect that ricocheted off the floor, then passed through a far wall, entering the dressing room and striking the teen.
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Valentina Orellana Peralta and her mother were shopping for Christmas clothes on Dec. 23, 2021 at a Burlington store in North Hollywood when an officer fired three rifle rounds at a suspect. One of the bullets went through the dressing room wall and fatally struck Orellana Peralta as her mother held her.
The teen's mother said she died in her arms, explaining that the two sat down and hugged when they heard the commotion in the store. The force of the gunshot that struck her daughter allegedly threw them to the ground.
"As I lay screaming for help, the police did not come to help me or my daughter, but I kept screaming," Valentina's mother, Soledad Peralta, said at a news conference days after the shooting. "When the police finally came, they took me out of the dressing room and left my daughter laying there. I wanted them to help her, but they just left her laying there alone."
Lopez was also killed in the incident.
Bonta's announcement was part of a report which provides a detailed analysis of the incident and outlines of the California Department of Justice's findings. It is part of the DOJ's efforts to provide transparency and accountability for law enforcement practices, officials said.
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At the time of the shooting, police released body-camera footage of the incident, which began when officers responded to reports of a man assaulting people and possibly firing shots inside the Burlington store.
The video showed Lopez viciously attacking a woman on the second floor of the store, repeatedly beating her with a metal bike lock and leaving her bloodied on the floor.
Video captures the sound of police gunfire, and several officers descending on the suspect. He was later pronounced dead a the scene.
The video released by the LAPD included audio from a series of 911 calls. In one call, a store employee tells a dispatcher that a suspect is in the store attacking people with a bike lock. In another, a woman reports the sound of shots being fired in the store, saying there's "a guy with a gun."
While the video does show Lopez holding the cable lock in his right hand, there is no indication that he was armed with a gun. Police said no gun was found at the scene.
According to the Attorney General's Office, investigators "concluded that the evidence does not show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the officer involved acted without the intent to defend himself and others from what he reasonably believed to be imminent death or serious bodily injury. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution of the officer."
The DOJ did recommend that the LAPD consider making changes to improve lines of communication in response to immediate action and rapid deployment scenarios.