14 year old Valentina Orellana-Peralta’s dream of becoming an American citizen and studying robotics is all over after she was shot by police days before Christmas while in the dressing room floor of a Los Angeles clothing store.
LAPD on Monday, December 27 released edited surveillance camera footage and police body camera videos showing the events that led to the shooting to death of the teen by an officer firing at a suspect.
The video shows a 24-year-old suspect identified as Daniel Elena-Lopez entering the Burlington Coat Factory store in Los Angeles with his bike and wearing a tank top and shorts. He takes the escalator upstairs with his bike.
Moments later, he returns to the escalators wearing a multicolored jacket and long pants before swinging his bike lock at customers, according to police. He is seen attacking several female customers.
Several body camera videos released by police show a woman on the floor covered in blood as officers arrive and attempt to find the suspect, who, according to a police statement, was a short distance away.
An officer can be heard on the body camera footage firing three bullets toward the suspect, who later falls to the ground. Video shows the officer firing a rifle at the suspect. One of the bullets hit and killed Valentina
From the video it can de deduced that the police knew the area hadn’t been cleared of customers before they started shooting.
Now, Valentina’s dad, Juan Pablo Orellana Larenas, who flew to Los Angeles from their native Chile, told reporters on Tuesday that his daughter had once assured him the US was “the safest country in the world.”
