LAPD releases video in police killing of 14-year-old girl in clothing store

The death of Valentina Orellana-Peralta, who was shopping with her mother for a holiday dress, raises concerns about police use of deadly force

The Los Angeles police department has released body-camera footage and surveillance video of an incident in which an officer shot and killed a 14-year-old girl inside a department store while firing at another person.

The footage from the Thursday morning incident shows that as soon as police encountered a man suspected of assault inside the store, an officer fired three bullets at him from a distance. One of the officer’s bullets struck the girl when it bounced off the floor and into the dressing room where she was with her mother, police said on Monday.

The 14-year-old victim has been identified as Valentina Orellana-Peralta, according to the LA county medical examiner’s office, which ruled the death to be a homicide from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Orellana-Peralta died on the scene at the Burlington Coat Factory store in North Hollywood.

Related: Long Beach school safety officer who shot teenager charged with murder

The officer who fired the shots was put on paid leave, and has not been identified. The man shot by police upon arrival was Daniel Elena Lopez, 24, who also died on the scene, officials said.

Attorneys representing the family of Orellana-Peralta said in a statement Monday that the girl was in the dressing room with her mother, trying on Christmas dresses, and that she died in her mother’s arms.

Police received several 911 calls for help, according to audio released on Monday. One woman, who appeared to work at the store, told police there was a “hostile customer”, who was “attacking” people, and that she was directing people to evacuate the store. That caller said that the man had a bike lock that he was using to assault and threaten people, but told the dispatcher it did not appear he had a knife or a gun. Other panicked callers said they believed the man might have a gun.

Footage released from inside the store suggests that Elena Lopez did not have a gun. Officials have said they uncovered only the bike lock.

The videos show Elena Lopez wandering around the store with his bike and hitting several customers, including people as they started to evacuate. At one point, he was hitting the air while no one was around him. Just before police arrived, he started repeatedly attacking a woman who ended up on the ground, the video shows.

Eventually, roughly a dozen officers entered the store. One officer with an assault rifle initially ordered the other officers to “slow down” and “get distance” and “back up” before they approached Elena Lopez. That officer said he would take lead.

But the officer’s body camera footage showed that as soon as he made it to the store aisle where Elena Lopez was standing and saw the man for the first time, he fired three bullets in rapid succession at him. The footage did not capture the officer making any commands, and did not show Elena Lopez advancing toward the officer. Elena Lopez was at the other end of the store aisle from the officer and appeared to be turning away from him. The victim, who was bleeding, was on the ground next to the officer when he fired his weapon.

“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,” said Michel Moore, LAPD chief, in a statement.

Both the California attorney general’s office and the California Department of Justice will be investigating the shooting.

The footage, released late Monday afternoon, has raised concerns about the use of deadly force and why the officer fired at Elena Lopez without making commands and while Elena Lopez was far from the victim and the officer.

“There was nothing in the video that justified opening fire the way the police officer with the assault rifle did,” said John Hamasaki, a criminal defense lawyer who is a member of the San Francisco police commission and regularly reviews footage of police killings. “I was shocked to see the video … Deadly force is the last option on the table.”

Hamasaki noted that police are trained to try and first control a situation with commands, which did not appear to happen in this case. He also noted that police have been focused on deescalation for years, but that there seemed to be little effort to communicate with the man to deescalate the situation before the killing.

The death of a 14-year-old bystander has sparked outrage across the US. Domingo García, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said in a statement: “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.”

The case has also drawn comparisons to an LAPD killing in 2018, when an officer fired at a suspect inside a Trader Joe’s store and in the process killed a store manager.

LAPD killings have sharply increased this year – the department has fatally shot 18 people in 2021, compared with seven in 2020, according to the LA Times. On Sunday, the department announced that an officer had fatally shot another man who was allegedly holding a knife.

• Maya Yang contributed reporting.