Al Sharpton To Lead Funeral For 14-Year-Old Girl Shot By LAPD

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA — Civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton will deliver the eulogy and officiate the Monday funeral of Valentina Orellana-Peralta, the 14-year-old girl fatally struck by a stray bullet fired by Los Angeles police in a North Hollywood clothing store.

Valentina’s funeral is taking place at 11 a.m. at the City of Refuge Church in Gardena, family attorneys said in a statement. The funeral service will be live-streamed at https://cityofrefugela.org/ and on YouTube here. Family attorneys Ben Crump and Rahul Ravipudi will also speak at the funeral.

A public viewing was held Saturday at the Angelus Funeral Home in the Leimert Park area of Los Angeles. On the same day, a group of demonstrators marched from the Burlington Store to the LAPD’s North Hollywood station on Burbank Boulevard to demand justice. Many of those activists are planning a demonstration Monday outside Attorney General Rob Bonta’s Downtown Los Angeles office.

Valentina was fatally shot in a North Hollywood Burlington store dressing room Dec. 23, when she and her mother were shopping for a Christmas dress. Los Angeles police received reports that a man was assaulting shoppers with a deadly weapon. Edited body camera and security video shows a man attacking people with a bike lock and cable. The assailant, 24-year-old Daniel Elena Lopez, was fatally shot by police.

Valentina and her mother locked her dressing room door when a stray bullet went through the dressing room wall and struck her, according to a police report. She died in her mother’s arms.
LAPD Officer William Jones, who shot Valentina while confronting the suspect, has been placed on administrative leave. A coalition of civil rights groups have called for Jones to be arrested and prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said Thursday that the city will "look comprehensively" at everything including training, tactics and policies in its investigation into the killing. Three Los Angeles City Council members on Friday also introduced a motion aimed at ensuring public transparency during the investigation.

The LAPD said that its Force Investigation Division, and the Inspector General’s Office are investigating the shooting, along with the California Department of Justice’s California Police Shooting Investigation Team. Results of those investigations will be turned over to the California Department of Justice’s Special Prosecutions Section.

Valentina arrived in the United States from Chile just six weeks before the shooting. A student at High Tech Los Angeles Charter School, she dreamt of becoming a robotics engineer, her parents said through a translator.

— Patch staffer Michael Wittner and City News Service contributed to this report.

Related:

• Demonstrators March To NoHo Police Station Amid Girl’s Funeral
• Parents Of Valentina Orellana-Peralta, 14-Year-Old Killed In LAPD Shooting, To Demand Transparency In Probe