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The Los Angeles Police Department faces a wrongful-death lawsuit stemming from the tragic shooting of a 14-year-old girl in a clothing store, with the trial scheduled to commence on Wednesday.
Valentina Orellana-Peralta was shopping for Christmas outfits with her mother at a Burlington store located in North Hollywood, within the San Fernando Valley, on December 23, 2021. Tragically, she was struck by a bullet that penetrated the dressing room wall.
This incident unfolded as police responded to emergency calls reporting a man attacking two women with a bike lock inside the store. During the response, Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. discharged his rifle three times, ultimately killing both the assailant and Orellana-Peralta.
The lawsuit, filed by Orellana-Peralta’s parents, accuses the police department of wrongful death, negligence, and the negligent infliction of emotional distress.
In a heart-wrenching account detailed in the lawsuit, the girl’s mother, Soledad Peralta, described the moment she felt her daughter’s body go limp and the helplessness she experienced as Valentina died in her arms.
It alleges that the LAPD failed to adequately train and supervise the responding officers and “fostered an environment that allowed and permitted this shooting to occur.”
“Valentina had her entire life in front of her, and it was taken in an instant due to reckless decisions made by the very people who were sworn to protect her,” said Nick Rowley, who represents the family. “We intend to hold LAPD fully accountable for taking an innocent young woman’s life.”
The Los Angeles city attorney’s office, representing the LAPD, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The Los Angeles Police Commission, a civilian oversight board, ruled in 2022 that Jones was justified in firing once but that his two subsequent shots were out of policy. Then-Police Chief Michel Moore previously found in his own review that all three shots were unjustified.
Jones told the LAPD’s Use of Force Review Board that he believed someone inside the store was shooting people and mistook the bike lock the man was wielding for a gun. He said he thought a wall behind the man backed up against an exterior brick wall when in fact, the area contained the women’s dressing rooms.
Rowley recently secured a $30 million settlement from the city of San Diego for the killing of 16-year-old Konoa Wilson, one of the largest settlements in a police killing case in U.S. history. It surpassed the $27 million settlement that the city of Minneapolis agreed to pay in the lawsuit over the killing of George Floyd.