April 18 (UPI) — No charges will be filed against the Los Angeles police officer who shot and killed a 14-year-old girl inside a clothing store in 2021, the California attorney general said.
Valentina Orellana Peralta was killed Dec. 23, 2021, at North Hollywood’s Burlington Coat Factory as police were responding to a report of a gunman inside the store.
Armed with a patrol rifle, officer William Jones Jr. opened fire in the store on seeing the suspect, 24-year-old Daniel Elena Lopez, shooting him dead. However, one of his three fired rounds struck the floor, changed direction and pierced the wall of a fitting room in which Orellana Peralta and her mother were hiding. The 14-year-old girl was struck and killed.
The California Department of Justice has for years been investigating the shooting, and announced Wednesday that Jones will not be charged.
“This case was a particularly challenging one to process as this involved the loss of two lives,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement accompanying the report of the investigation.
“Any loss of life is a tragedy, and my heart goes out especially to the family of Valentina Orellana Peralta, who tragically lost her life and whose only involvement in this incident was by being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
According to the report, Jones took lead of the police response inside the store where he saw a bloodied victim on the ground. When Jones came to the victim he saw Lopez with an object in one hand and another object he was using as a shield in the other.
Jones opened fired, hitting Lopez fatally in the chest. Orellana Peralta was also shot in the chest.
The announcement Wednesday comes after a Los Angeles Police Commission ruled in November that Jones had violated police department policy. The commission found that his first shot was justified but that the following two were not.
In the report published Wednesday, the California Department of Justice said that an examination of the evidence does not support the notion that the shooting of Orellana Peralta violated any criminal law.
“This killing appears to have been unintended and unforeseeable,” the report states. “Officer Jones’ intent in shooting Mr. Elena Lopez transferred to the unintended killing of Ms. Orellana Peralta, and thus no charges relating to her death can pr proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The report, however, recommends that the LAPD should consider updating their communication training bulletin and any related training to account for the type of situation that resulted in Orellana Peralta’s death.
