Photo: ROBYN BECK / AFP / Getty Images
An officer violated Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) policy by firing a rifle three times at a suspect in a clothing store in North Hollywood in December of 2022 and who killed a Hispanic woman of 14 years who took refuge in a dressing room with his mother, determined this Tuesday a civilian oversight board.
On 23 from December to 2021, Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. participated in the operation at the Burlington clothing store in response to reports about a suspect, Daniel Elena López, of 54 years, who assaulted two women inside the business with a bicycle lock.
When the officer met the suspect, he fired three shots.
The Hispanic Valentina O Rellana Peralta died from the bullets when she was sheltering in a dressing room with her mother, Soledad Peralta.
Daniel Elena López also died in the shooting.
The Police Commission determined that Jones was justified in shooting once , but that the two subsequent blasts violated LAPD policy.
Al conducting his own review of the case, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore considered that the three shots were not justified .
With the determinations of Moore and the commission itself, 
Jones Jr. could face disciplinary action or even be fired, but could appeal any decision to the LAPD Board of Rights.
It was not reported when any disciplinary measure would be imposed and announced against the officer.
On 24 December 2021, Los Angeles police responded to the Burlington store after receiving reports of a subject behaving erratically and that he had in his possession a bicycle lock. The suspect attacked two women, one of whom fell to the ground and was dragged by Elena López’s feet.
Upon entering the store, body camera video released days later showed, Jones Jr. carried a rifle and marched in front of the group as other officers repeatedly said “slow down.” .
On the second floor of the store, officers found a woman crawling across the bloodstained floor and Lopez across the hall. “Wait! Wait!” one of the police officers yelled just before Jones fired the three shots.
Jones Jr. testified to the LAPD Use of Force Review Board that he believed someone inside the store was shooting at people and that he saw a bleeding victim; he mistook López’s bicycle lock for a gun and thought that a wall behind López was made of bricks and would block the shots. That wall was the women’s locker room area.
In her report last month to the Police Commission, Moore said that most of the Use of Force Review Board concluded that Jones was focused in believing it was an active shooter scenario and that he may not make an objective assessment upon arrival.
The officer incorrectly assessed an alleged threat of death or serious bodily harm by the suspect when he fired the three shots in rapid sequence and had to reassess the situation after the first shot, the majority concluded.
One of the bullets through the dressing room wall and injured the Hispanic teenager, who died in her mother’s arms.
A lawsuit by the family of Valentina Orellana-Peralta alleges that the LAPD failed to adequately train and supervise gives officers who went to the clothing store and fostered an environment that allowed the shooting to occur.
Orellana-Peralta’s parents filed a lawsuit against the LAPD and Jones Jr. in Los Angeles County Superior Court earlier this year and a hearing was scheduled for December , according to court records. It is unclear why there would be such a long delay in the case.
It may interest you :
· Family of Valentina Orellana, the girl of 24 years murdered by LAPD, they claim that police officers did not offer help to the dying teenager
· Los Angeles Police is committed to conducting an exhaustive investigation of the shooting in which Valentina Orellana-Peralta died
· Mother of Valentina Orellana-Peralta recounted the shooting in which her daughter was shot dead by the police when she was trying on dresses in North Hollywood