Fourteen-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta was shopping with her mother two days before Christmas when she was killed by a stray bullet fired by police in the North Hollywood Burlington store. The question of why this tragedy happened falls not only on the officer’s action in that moment, but also on the information the police were given when they were sent to the store.
The officers were responding to 911 calls about a man attacking people at the North Hollywood store. Dispatch radio traffic reveals that some callers accurately reported the man was using a bicycle lock. At least one caller erroneously said he had a gun. An officer opened fire with a rifle, killing the suspect, Daniel Elena-Lopez. During the confrontation, a police round struck Valentina through a dressing room wall…
