Parents of Valentina-Orellana-Peralta, 14-year-old killed by LAPD bullet, demand justice

NORTH HOLLYWOOD – The parents of a 14-year-old girl who was killed by a bullet fired by Los Angeles police at an assault suspect inside a North Hollywood Burlington store publicly called for justice for their daughter’s death Tuesday morning.

Valentina Orellana-Peralta was with her mother on Thursday, trying on Christmas dresses, when she was struck by a police bullet that passed through the wall of a dressing room on the second floor of the store.

Through a translator, Orellana-Peralta’s mother Soledad Peralta described the scene in the store, saying that they heard screams before hugging and praying in the changing room. 

“When something impacted her it threw us on the floor,” Peralta said through a translator. “She died in my arms. There was nothing I could do. To see a son or daughter die in your arms is one of the most profound pains that any human being can imagine. Valentina meant the world to us. Family, friends, schoolmates. And now our sweet angel has left forever. Please give us strength Valentina to make justice for you.”

The girl’s father, Juan Pablo Orellana Larenas, talked about her daughter’s dreams, particularly those of being an engineer, and becoming an American citizen. “I don’t have words,” he said, through a translator, adding that he hasn’t been able to sleep since the shooting.

Los Angeles police on Monday released body-camera footage and other details of the shooting, which occurred around 11:45 a.m. Thursday when officers responded to reports of a man assaulting people, and possibly firing shots, inside the Burlington store.

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The narrated video released by the LAPD includes footage showing the assault suspect violently attacking a woman on the second floor of the Burlington store, repeatedly beating her with a steel or metal cable bike lock, leaving her bloodied on the floor as officers arrived.

Body-camera video captures the sound of police gunfire quickly ringing out as they spot the suspect — with the cable lock in his hand. More than a half-dozen officers descend on the suspect after the shots are heard, and the injured suspect is taken into custody, and later pronounced dead on the scene.

Valentina Orellana Peralta was shopping with her mom at the Burlington in North Hollywood Thursday afternoon when she was fatally struck by a stray bullet as police fired at an assault suspect.  (Orellana-Peralta Family)

While the video shows the suspect with the cable lock in his right hand, there is no indication he is armed with a gun, and it is unclear if he advanced on any officers before the shots rang out. Police have said no gun was found at the scene.

The video released by the LAPD Monday includes audio from a series of 911 calls. In one call, a store employee tells a dispatcher 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.” Another caller reports that her mother was hiding inside the store because of a man making threats. She added, “I don’t know if he has a gun, I don’t know what he has, but they’re hiding.”

The video released by the LAPD shows the suspect, identified as 24- year-old Daniel Elena Lopez, entering the store with his bicycle around 11 a.m.

“(The suspect) took the escalator up to the second floor,” LAPD Capt. Stacy Spell says on the video. “He laid his bike in an aisle and walked around the store putting on clothes.”

Spell said a store employee approached Lopez about his bicycle and left the area. Lopez then allegedly smashed a computer monitor and a glass railing with a bike lock before going back down the escalator and encountering a woman, Spell said.

Photo courtesy of the Orellana-Peralta family

Lopez allegedly attempted to steal the woman’s bag and hit her with the bike lock when she resisted. The woman fled the scene and has not been identified.

Lopez waited at the bottom of the escalator as another woman descended and allegedly attempted to grab her, but she was able to break free and fled the store as well, Spell said. He then went back up to the second floor and allegedly struck a third woman from behind with the lock.

The video released by police includes security footage inside the store, showing the suspect attacking the woman from behind, striking her in the head with the cable lock. The woman struggles with the suspect, who at one point drags the woman along the floor. The suspect can be seen repeatedly beating her with the lock as she lies on the floor.

Body-camera footage shows police as they spotted the woman on the floor, then the suspect a moment later — then the sound of police gunfire.

After the wounded suspect was detained, and eventually pronounced dead, officers found the 14-year-old girl dead in a dressing room that was behind the suspect when the shooting occurred. According to the video released Monday, police believe a bullet fired by police skipped off the floor of the store and passed through the dressing room wall, striking the teen on the other side.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore, who was out of town with family but briefed on the shooting, said in a statement over the holiday weekend: “This chaotic incident resulting in the death of an innocent child is tragic and devastating for everyone involved.”

“I am profoundly sorry for the loss of this young girl’s life and I know there are no words that can relieve the unimaginable pain for the family,” Moore said. “My commitment is to conduct a thorough, complete and transparent investigation into the circumstances that led up to this tragedy and provide the family and public with as much information as possible,” the chief added.

The LAPD Family Liaison is working closely with the Mayor’s Crisis Response Team and Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez to provide assistance to the 14- year-old girl’s family, a department official said.

The department’s Force Investigation Division and Inspector General’s Office were both investigating the shooting, along with the California Department of Justice’s California Police Shooting Investigation Team for Southern California. The DOJ investigates officer shootings under provisions of a bill signed into law last year.

Once the investigation has been completed, the results will be turned over to the California Department of Justice’s Special Prosecutions Section within the Criminal Law Division for independent review.

Attorneys for Valentina’s mother sent a letter to the LAPD Monday, asking the agency to preserve “any and all video footage” from the shooting and demanding that none of the materials be altered in any way.

Local civil rights leaders on Monday called for the arrest and prosecution of the officer who fired the shot that killed the teen.

“The slaying was unwarranted and involved the reckless use of deadly force by the LAPD,” Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable said in a statement ahead of an afternoon news conference. “This is only the latest in a continuing series of LAPD shootings of civilians under highly dubious circumstances.”

The officer who fired the shot that killed the teen was paced on administrative leave while the investigation is ongoing, police said Friday.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Lopez had convictions for car theft, carrying a loaded gun in public and carrying a gun as a felon.

The newspaper also reported that he was arrested in the San Fernando Valley in August 2020 and charged with domestic battery, stealing a car and recklessly fleeing the police, later pleading guilty to domestic battery and fleeing police and sentenced to two years in state prison.

A spokeswoman for the state corrections department declined to release Elena Lopez’s commitment history to The Times, citing the ongoing investigation into the North Hollywood shooting.

Moore told The Times it did not appear that the officer who fired “would have known that there was anyone behind there or that he was looking at anyone other than the suspect and a wall,” but said every aspect of what occurred and why would be analyzed by LAPD investigators.

On Saturday, the League of United Latin American Citizens criticized the shooting.

“It is indefensible that trained Los Angeles police officers could open fire in a crowded store at the height of Christmas shopping without first knowing for sure if the suspect was armed. Also, were they thinking about the danger of their actions to innocent bystanders? If not, they should have, and no apology or any number of words of regret will bring back Valentina!” LULAC National President Domingo Garcia said.

“Everything in their academy training is supposed to teach them to consider the worst-case scenario before drawing their service revolvers. Equally troubling is that this incident is only the latest in a rash of recent LAPD shootings involving Latinos. It is apparent that the days of shoot-first, ask-questions-second are rearing their ugly head again in one of the nation’s largest law enforcement agencies,” Garcia continued.

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