14-year-old fatally shot by police in store

Originally Published: 28 DEC 21 14:20 ETBy Ray Sanchez, CNN

    (CNN) -- Valentina Orellana-Peralta, the 14-year-old who was fatally shot by police in the dressing room of a Los Angeles store, had once assured her father the US was "the safest country in the world" and she dreamed of becoming an American citizen, he said Tuesday.

A distraught Juan Pablo Orellana Larenas, who flew to flew to Los Angeles from their native Chile, spoke at a news conference, along with his wife and civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and others.

"I have no words to describe what I'm going through, especially during this holiday season," her father said. "I cannot sleep... All she wanted was to become a American citizen. I once told her, let's leave this country. 'No, papa,' she said. "This is the safest country in the world, a country of opportunity.' Now my daughter is dead at the hands of the state."

The Los Angeles Police Department on Monday released edited surveillance camera footage and police body camera videos showing the events that led to the shooting death of the teen by an officer firing at a suspect last Thursday.

The video shows a 24-year-old suspect identified as Daniel Elena-Lopez entering the Burlington Coat Factory store in North Hollywood with his bike and wearing a tank top and shorts. He takes the escalator upstairs with his bike.

Moments later, he returns to the escalators wearing a multicolored jacket and long pants before swinging his bike lock at customers, according to police. He is seen attacking several female customers.

Several body camera videos released by police show a woman on the floor covered in blood as officers arrive and attempt to find the suspect, who, according to a police statement on Friday, was a short distance away.

An officer can be heard on the body camera footage firing three bullets toward the suspect, who later falls to the ground. Video shows the officer firing a rifle at the suspect.

Valentina was in a dressing room with her mother when a bullet aimed at the suspect passed through the wall, fatally striking the teenager. Valentina was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest, coroner records show.

Valentina and her mother were holding one another and praying when the bullet ripped through the wall and fatally wounded the 14-year-old, according to relatives.

"The girl's American dream has been taken from her," Valentina's uncle, Rodrigo Orellana, told CNN affiliate Chilevision from their native Chile this week.

"Everyone fled to to dressing rooms and, unfortunately, the bullet found her," he said. "They're supposed to be the best police department in the world and they shot her."

Police Capt. Stacy Spell said the investigation in its early stages. The incident will also be reviewed by representatives from the California Department of Justice, the state Attorney General's Office and the Office of the Inspector General, according to Spell.

The police department released three 911 calls and radio transmissions of the shooting.

Police were called following numerous reports of an assault with a deadly weapon and a possible shooting in progress at the store.

In one call a store employee tells the operator there's an "hostile customer in my store attacking customers" and "breaking things."

While she is on the phone, the woman is also repeatedly heard yelling at people to evacuate the store. She explains to the operator that the suspect is using a bike lock to attack people.

The suspect died at the scene. A steel or metal cable lock was found near his body, officials said. No firearm was recovered from the scene.

The assault victim was transported to a hospital with head and arm injuries. Police do not believe the woman knew the suspect.

The officer who fired the fatal shots is on "paid administrative leave, per department protocols for officer involved shootings, for at least two weeks," a police official told CNN.

Last week, Police Chief Michel Moore said: "This chaotic incident resulting in the death of an innocent child is tragic and devastating for everyone involved. I am profoundly sorry for the loss of this young girl's life and I know there are no words that can relieve the unimaginable pain for the family," he said.

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