LA Police Officer “Violated Policy” When He Shot And Killed A Teenager In A Dressing Room

When he fired numerous rounds during an encounter at the business, including one that struck and killed the adolescent, a Los Angeles police officer who shot and killed a 14-year-old girl in a clothes store last December was found to have violated police department rules.

The city’s police commission released conclusions this week pertaining to a case that shook Los Angeles. On December 23, 2021, Valentina Orellana-Peralta was slain while shopping with her mother at a Burlington Coat Factory in North Hollywood.

The policeman, William Dorsey Jones Jr., shot at a guy who was allegedly attacking store patrons. The youngster, who was in a dressing room with her mother, was killed by one of the rounds he fired.

Widespread outrage over Orellana-death Peralta’s led to demonstrations, a lawsuit, and other events. The Los Angeles police killed more individuals in 2018 than they did in 2020, making it an especially lethal year for citizens at the hands of the LAPD. One of the five victims slain by Los Angeles police during the course of nine days in 2021 was Orellana-Peralta.

City police officers are said to be emboldened to use lethal force carelessly and without justification since they rarely face penalties, according to activists.

Activists and observers had questioned why Jones shot at a suspect in the incident that killed Orellana-Peralta without attempting to defuse the situation or determining whether bystanders may be in danger.

LA police officer, William Dorsey Jones Jr, ‘violated policy’ by firing shots that killed 14-year-old teen, Valentina Orellana-Peralta in dressing room

— Bob Garcia (@1reddragon696) November 23, 2022

Although the police panel found that Jones’ first shot was lawful, the second and third bullets were against LAPD policy. However, Michel Moore, the chief of the city police, came to the conclusion that Jones should not have fired at all and that another officer in the same circumstance would not have deemed the use of fatal force “objectively justified or necessary.”

According to the inquiry, the responding officers and a supervisory sergeant confronted Daniel Elena Lopez, the suspect who was slain in the event, using illegal methods.

Elena Lopez, 24, was allegedly whipping a woman who was lying on the ground with blood on her face when police arrived at the scene. When the officer quickly fired three bullets, one of them bounced off the floor into the store dressing room where Orellana-Peralta and her mother were taking cover, striking the young girl in the chest.

Read More: Travis County Trial Results In A Teen Being Convicted Guilty Of Murder

Elena Lopez was at the opposite end of the aisle from Jones and appeared to be turning away when she was shot.

She passed away in my arms, and I was helpless. The teen’s mother, Soledad Peralta, reported that she did not awaken. “The police did not arrive to assist me or my daughter as I lay yelling for assistance.

But I didn’t stop yelling. When the cops eventually arrived, they removed my daughter from the bed and left me in the changing room. I wished they would assist her. However, they simply left her lying there by herself.

The parents of Orellana-Peralta have filed a lawsuit against Jones and the LAPD for the shooting, claiming that the police department failed to adequately train and oversee the responding officers and created “an environment that allowed and encouraged this shooting to occur.”

What repercussions Jones will experience are unknown at this time.

Six months before the shooting, Orellana-Peralta had relocated to Los Angeles. She was a model student who aspired to attend college, change the world, and make a difference, according to Benjamin Crump, the family’s attorney, who said this last year.

“Her most important dream was to become an American citizen. They came to America from Chile to get away from violence and to have a better life.”

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