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Parents of girl shot dead in dressing room by US police call for justice

Thursday, 30 December 2021 11:13 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 30 December 2021 11:15 AM ]

Bodycam footage shows Los Angeles Police Department officers surrounding the assault suspect at a shopping mall in North Hollywood, California, U.S., December 23, 2021. (Via Reuters)

The parents of a teenage girl killed in a North Hollywood store by the Los Angeles police last week called for justice, a day after police released video showing the moments leading to the fatal shooting.

The 14-year-old girl, Valentina Orellana-Peralta, was shot dead in the clothing store's dressing room by a police officer's stray bullet on Dec. 23.

She was killed when a police officer opened fire on a man who was assaulting another shopper after attacking several others. The suspect was killed.

Police said one round from the officer's rifle pierced the wall of a fitting room where the girl was hiding with her mother during the police attack. The girl died instantly in her mother's arms.

"It is like my whole heart has been ripped out of my body," her father, Juan Pablo Orellana Larenas, said in a statement read by the family's attorney, Ben Crump, during a news conference outside of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) headquarters. "We want justice for our daughter. Valentina's life mattered."

Los Angeles police releases footage in fatal shooting of teen at clothing store

Bodycam footage released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows the "chaotic" police shooting of a teenager in a California department store.

The parents, who wore signs around their necks that read "justice for my daughter" written in both English and Spanish, described their daughter as an exceptional student who aspired to become an engineer.

"She had great dreams of becoming an American citizen. She wanted to be here in the United States because this was the land of opportunity," Crump said.

The 14-year-old girl was found shot to death shortly afterward in the dressing room as police searched the store for any additional victims, police said.

The suspect, identified as Daniel Elena-Lopez, 24, died at the scene. The Los Angeles Times has reported he had several prior felony convictions.

The officer who fired the shots has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, police said.

The cases of police brutalities and killings have assumed alarming proportions in the United States recently, prompting people to protest.

A study in October suggested that more than half of all police-involved killings in the US were underreported.

African Americans and Hispanic Americans constitute a majority of the victims in those cases. Not only does police discrimination plague the system, it also reveals cover ups by law enforcement agencies.

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