Valentina Orellana-Peralta was 14 years old, she was a little “timid», As her aunt described in Los Angeles Times, and she had emigrated six months ago from Chile to join the United States, where her family wanted to settle permanently. On the morning of December 23, she and her mother went to a clothing store in North Hollywood, an area of Los Angeles, to buy some clothes on Christmas Eve. An ordinary day, in short, which turned into a nightmare at the end of a police intervention which aroused a lively controversy in the United States.
Thursday morning, the Los Angeles police are alerted to the attitude “hostileFrom a customer by an employee of the Burlington clothing store. Another person present at the scene indicates to the police that the individual could be carrying a firearm, which will be denied by the CCTV images. The latter, made public Monday, show a man identified later as Daniel Elena Lopez, 24, who attacks two customers of the store and tries to steal their handbag. Obviously in a daze, he then removes his pants and then violently attacks a third client, whom he strikes several times with a bicycle lock. The victim remains on the ground, his face bloodied.
A dozen police then land in the store. The videos from the cameras on board the agents, also made public, allow the scene to be reconstructed. As the small group goes up to the first floor and approaches the perimeter where Daniel Elena Lopez is located, a policeman armed with an assault rifle asks his colleagues to “to slow down»And is placed at the front. No sooner does he see his target than he shoots, three times and without warning, while the young man, without any weapon other than his bicycle lock, several meters away and heading in the opposite direction, does not seem to present any direct threat.
Daniel Elena Lopez died on the spot, as did Valentina Orellana-Peralta, collateral victim of this shooting. “At this stage of the investigation, we believe that[elle] was hit by a bullet fired by a police officer ”, said in a video released Monday a representative of the Los Angeles Police Department, who said the commando were not aware of the presence of the girl and her mother, who were in a changing room a few meters further. Since 2020, however, the regulations of the municipal police of the Californian metropolis require officers to take into account “The environment, the context and the potential risk to passers-by as far as is reasonable” before firing.
Cornered by criticism, local police chief Michel R. Moore issued a public apology. “This chaotic incident which resulted in the death of an innocent child is tragic and devastating for all involved. I am deeply sorry for the loss of this young girl and I know that there are no words to ease the unimaginable pain of the family ”, did he declare. A judicial inquiry has been opened, in accordance with a new law passed in July at the federated level which provides for systematic investigations in the event of police interventions resulting in the death of unarmed persons. In the meantime, the perpetrator of the fatal shootings has been placed on paid leave.
“It is indefensible that trained Los Angeles police officers were able to open fire at a crowded store during the height of Christmas shopping without first checking whether the suspect was armed, Domingo Garcia, president of LULAC, one of the main organizations defending the rights of Latin American citizens, was indignant on December 25. Have they thought about the danger of their action for innocent passers-by? If not, they should have, and no apologies or words of regret will bring Valentina back.“”I have worked for years on the use of force, de-escalation, crisis intervention, but this is one of the worst sheer panic killings I have seen, added on Twitter criminal lawyer John Hamasaki. If there is no prosecution, I think it will be a big problem. ”
The tragic deaths of Valentina Orellana-Peralta and Daniel Elena Lopez come at a time when the Los Angeles police are in the sights of progressive activists, who blame them for their too violent methods, as elsewhere in the United States. After years of decline, the number of people killed in Los Angeles in shootings involving police increased in 2021 : 18 already this year, against seven in 2020 and twelve in 2019, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti has promised transparency “Total” on this“Horrible tragedy”. As for the family of Valentina Orellana-Peralta, they hired lawyer Benjamin Crump, who notably represented the entourage of African-American George Floyd, killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020.