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LA Police Commission Says Officer Who Shot and Killed Teenage Girl Last Year Violated Department Policy
Soledad Peralta and Juan Pablo Orellana Larenas as they leave their daughter's funeral.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez for LAist
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The Los Angeles Police Commission has determined that an LAPD officer violated policy when he shot and killed a 14-year-old girl in a Burlington store in North Hollywood last December.
The Backstory
Body cam video from Dec. 23, 2021 shows LAPD officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. rushing ahead of other officers and firing three shots at Daniel Elena-Lopez, who had assaulted a woman in the store. Before Jones shoots, other officers are heard telling him to “slow down.”
The first shot struck and killed Elena-Lopez. But one bullet went through a wall and killed Valentina Orellana-Peralta while she was in a dressing room with her mother.
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LAPD Chief Michel Moore wrote in a report to the commission that he believes all three shots violated department policy.
On a 3-2 vote, the commission found the first shot, which struck and killed Elena-Lopez, did not violate policy. The vote was 4-1 in finding the other two shots did violate policy.
Orellana-Peralta’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and Jones last summer.
The commission also criticized many of the other officers at the scene for bad tactics.
What's Next
Moore can now decide whether to discipline or fire Jones.
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