DOWNLOAD:valentina-orellana-peralta.pdf

Name: Valentina Orellana Peralta

Age: 14

Date: December 23, 2021

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Agent: Los Angeles Police Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr.

Death: Gunfire

A Los Angeles County jury found LAPD officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. not liable in a lawsuit for the 2021 shooting death of 14 year old Valentina Orellana-Peralta while Christmas shopping for a quincenera dress with her mother. On December 23, 2021, LAPD responded to multiple 911 calls of a man assaulting customers with a bike lock inside a North Hollywood Burlington store. At least one of those calls incorrectly claimed that he had a gun.

Surveillance video shows the suspect, Daniel Elena-Lopez, a 24 year old man with a history of mental health issues, being asked to leave the store after causing a disturbance and assaulting customers. Instead of complying, he returns to the second floor with a bike lock in hand and uses it to assault another customer. At this time, officers had already arrived at the scene and determined it was not an active shooting. Four officers methodically go up to the second floor to approach the suspect when officer Dorsey Jones Jr., who arrived a few minutes after, caught up to them pushing his way to the front of the police formation with an AR-15 assault rife. Bodycam footage shows officers yelling at officer Dorsey Jones Jr. to "slow down" at least 22 times as he rushed ahead of them. As soon as they reached the corner of the aisle where the victim was laying on the floor bleeding, officer Dorsey Jones Jr. immediately fires three shots at Elena-Lopez who at that moment was at the opposite end of the aisle, away from the victim, and visibly not carrying a firearm. One of the bullets ricocheted off the ground and went through the thin fitting room wall directly behind him. Orellana-Peralta and her mother where hiding in that room when she got struck with the bullet causing her body to go limp with her mother helplessly watching her daughter die in her arms.

The reckless approach by officer Jones points to the culture of "shoot first, ask questions later" violence. Instead of following training and protocol to prevent unnecessary harm to anyone, the officer was quick to unleash lethal force that led to the killing of two people while risking the lives of other shoppers in that department store during the busy holiday shopping season. Despite the tense situation, police are highly trained to deal with these situations while taking on a level of risk. There in no question actions of the officer directly contributed to the death Orellana-Peralta. Weeks before the incident, the officer had undergone mass shooter training. For Orellana-Peralta and Elena-Lopez, It wasnt a "mass shooting" until the officer showed up.

<<<‍ ‍>>>