An American police officer, who killed a teenager with a stray bullet during an intervention in a store where she was looking for a dress for her 15th birthday, will get away without criminal charges, the Department of Justice investigation concluded this week .
“Any loss of life is a tragedy, and my thoughts are particularly with the family of Valentina Orellana Peralta, who tragically lost her life and whose only involvement in this incident was being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. said Attorney General Rob Bonta, according to CBS News.
After an investigation lasting several years, the Department of Justice (DOJ) determined that criminal charges would not be appropriate against the police officer who caused the death of the teenager by a stray bullet during an intervention in a grocery store. clothing in North Hollywood, near Los Angeles, on December 23, 2021.
That day, the young teenager of Chilean origin was shopping with her mother in preparation for her quinceañera, a traditional Latin celebration that marks the transition from childhood to womanhood, planned for her 15th birthday.
Except that at the same time, an “armed” individual in the store allegedly attacked another customer, so much so that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was called to intervene on the scene.
It was in this context that one of the agents allegedly opened fatal fire three times on the suspect, Daniel Elena Lopez, 24, before a stray bullet hit the teenager, who was trying on dresses in one of the fitting rooms with her mother.
“All of a sudden we felt an explosion that knocked us both to the ground…I didn’t know he had been shot. His body went limp. I tried to shake her, but her body became limp,” said her mother Soledad Peralta, who hugged her daughter’s lifeless body.
Despite this, the Justice Department did not judge that criminal charges were justified in the “chaotic, tragic and devastating” context of the two deaths, in the words of LAPD Chief Michel Moore.
The teenager’s family had not yet reacted to the news on Thursday, having been vocal a few days after the tragedy to demand that all the agents involved be sent “to prison”, according to Agence France-Presse .
“The only thing I want is justice for my daughter. I will not rest until all these criminals are in prison, every single one of them,” Juan Pablo Orellana, the victim’s father, said at a press conference.
