USA: Police raided a store and accidentally killed a 14-year-old girl

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A 14-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet inside a store rehearsal when police started firing to neutralize a suspect. Los Angeles police have launched an investigation into the case and intend to release videos of the incident.

According to police, on December 23, police officers went to a clothing store in North Hollywood, near Los Angeles, where an “armed robbery” was taking place. Arriving there, they saw a bloodied woman, who had many wounds, a short distance from a suspect. They opened fire on the man and killed him on the spot.

“Unbeknownst to the police, a 14-year-old girl, Valentina Oregiana-Peralta, was in the rehearsal room, on the other side of a wall, just behind the suspect,” the police statement said. Only after they neutralized the man did they realize that the teenage girl had been fatally hit by a bullet.

According to the first data of the investigation, the girl seems to have been hit by one of the bullets thrown by a police officer.

Valentina was shopping with her mother in anticipation of her birthday. He would be turning 15, a very important age for Latinos and Hispanics in the United States. The celebration, which they call “kinesanera”, is essentially an adult ceremony for young girls.

Los Angeles Police Chief Michael Moore spoke of a “chaotic incident” that resulted in the death of “an innocent child”. He apologized to the family and vowed to shed light on the circumstances that led to this tragedy. For this purpose, the telephone calls to the police, the conversations of the police on the radio and the videos from the wireless cameras of the police but also from the security cameras of the store will be made public.

According to local media, no weapon was found on the suspect, a 24-year-old man who had been prosecuted for domestic violence and used a heavy padlock to hit his victim.

Lulac, one of the most important organizations defending the rights of Hispanics, criticized the police for the way they acted. “It is unacceptable for Los Angeles police to open fire inside a crowded store amid Christmas shopping without knowing for sure if the suspect was armed,” said Lulac president Domingo Garcia.

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