A 14-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet inside the fitting room of a store when officers began firing to subdue a suspect. Los Angeles police have launched an investigation into the case and plan to release videos of the incident.
According to police, on December 23, officers went to a clothing store in North Hollywood, near Los Angeles, where an "armed robbery" was in progress. Upon arriving there, they saw a bloodied woman, bearing multiple injuries, in close proximity to a suspect. They opened fire on that man and killed him on the spot."
"Unbeknownst to the officers, a 14-year-old girl, Valentina Orejana-Peralta, was in the dressing room on the other side of a wall, directly behind the suspect," the police statement reads. Only after they overpowered the man did they realize that the teenager had been fatally hit by a bullet.
Based on the initial evidence of the investigation, the girl appears to have been struck by one of the bullets fired by a police officer.
Valentina was shopping with her mother in preparation for her birthday celebration. She would be turning 15, an age very important to Latinos and Hispanics in the United States. The celebration, which they call a "quinceanera," is essentially a coming-of-age ceremony for young girls.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michael Moore called it a "chaotic incident" that resulted in the death of "an innocent child." He apologized to the family and pledged to shed light on the circumstances that led to this tragedy. To this end, telephone calls to the police, police radio conversations and video from the police radio cameras and the store's security cameras will be made public.
According to local media, no weapon was found on the suspect, a 24-year-old man who had been prosecuted for domestic violence and used a heavy padlock to hit his victim.
One of the major Hispanic rights advocacy organizations, Lulac, criticized the officers for the way they acted. "It is unacceptable for Los Angeles police officers to open fire in a crowded store in the middle of Christmas shopping without knowing for sure if the suspect was armed," commented Lulac President Domingo Garcia.
Source: First Issue
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