A wrongful-death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department over the fatal shooting of 14-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta in a North Hollywood Burlington store is set to begin trial on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
The case stems from the Dec. 23, 2021 incident in which Orellana-Peralta was shopping for Christmas clothes with her mother in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood when she was struck by a bullet that had passed through the dressing room wall, AP reported.
The lawsuit describes police responding to calls for help after a man wielding a bike lock attacked two women inside the building. AP said officers walked through the store and that Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. fired his rifle three times, killing the man and Orellana-Peralta.
The wrongful-death complaint, as described by AP, seeks damages and alleges claims including wrongful death, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit alleges the department failed to adequately train and supervise the responding officers and that LAPD “fostered an environment that allowed and permitted this shooting to occur.”
AP also reported the lawsuit includes statements from Orellana-Peralta’s mother, Soledad Peralta, who said she “felt her daughter’s body go limp and watched helplessly as her daughter died while still in her arms.”
Nick Rowley, the attorney representing the family, said 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,” and that the family intends to hold LAPD fully accountable, AP reported.
The Associated Press report said the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, which represents the LAPD, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The case also draws on prior findings by oversight and leadership reviewing the shooting. AP said the Los Angeles Police Commission ruled in 2022 that Jones was justified in firing once but that the two subsequent shots were out of policy, and AP reported that then-Police Chief Michel Moore previously found all three shots unjustified. AP further reported that Jones told the department’s Use of Force Review Board that he believed someone inside the store was shooting people and that he mistook the bike lock for a gun, adding that he said he thought a wall behind the man backed up against an exterior brick wall even though the women’s dressing rooms were in that area.
In the AP report, Rowley also pointed to a separate settlement he recently secured in another police killing matter involving a teenager in San Diego, saying the family’s efforts aim to ensure accountability in Orellana-Peralta’s case as well.