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.