Valentina Orellana-Peralta, a 14-year-old girl, was shopping for a quinceañera dress with her mother two days before Christmas when her life was tragically cut short. The pair were inside a dressing room at a Burlington store in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, on December 23, 2021, hugging and praying for safety after hearing a commotion outside. Her mother, Soledad Peralta, would later recount feeling her daughter’s body go limp in her arms.
The disturbance that morning was caused by a
man, later identified as 24-year-old Daniel Elena Lopez, who was erratically attacking customers with a heavy-duty bike lock. The Los Angeles Police Department responded to multiple 911 calls around 11:45 a.m., some of which reported a possible active shooter. When officers arrived, they encountered Lopez in the process of assaulting another person. Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. fired his rifle three times at Lopez. One of the bullets ricocheted off the floor, went through a wall, and fatally struck Valentina in the chest. Lopez was also killed at the scene.
The shooting prompted multiple investigations. In November 2022, the Los Angeles Police Commission found that Officer Jones had violated department policy with his use of deadly force. The California Department of Justice also conducted a mandatory independent review of the officer-involved shooting. The LAPD, in a move toward transparency, released body camera footage, store surveillance video, and recordings of the 911 calls.
In April 2024, the California Attorney General announced that no criminal charges would be filed against Officer Jones. The DOJ’s report concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove the officer acted without the intent to defend himself and others from what he reasonably believed to be a threat of imminent death or serious bodily injury.
Valentina’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Officer Jones and the LAPD. During the civil trial, the family’s attorneys argued that the officer was negligent, while attorneys for the city countered that Jones had to make a split-second, life-or-death decision. In May 2026, a Los Angeles County jury found that neither Officer Jones nor the LAPD were liable for Valentina’s death.
