Mother of 14-year-old girl killed in LAPD shooting held her daughter as she died

A picture of Valentina Orellana-Peralta outside LAPD headquarters memorializes the 14-year-old killed by a stray bullet fired by an LAPD officer at a North Hollywood clothing store last week. “When I got a phone call and heard that my daughter had been killed by the Los Angeles Police Department, my world came tumbling down on me,” he said in Spanish. “I won’t rest until my daughter gets justice.” The parents spoke alongside several attorneys — including Ben Crump, a high-profile figure in excessive police force cases nationally, whom the father has retained to represent them. Crump said Tuesday that Valentina’s family wanted the world to know that their daughter “was beautiful, intelligent and had the whole world ahead of her,” and that she “made exceptional grades at an English-speaking school even though English was not her native tongue.” Crump also said the family wants justice — and will pursue it. Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian said in a statement that the “people of Los Angeles need to know exactly what happened and how it happened, and how Valentina’s tragic death could have been prevented.” The shooting also killed the suspect, 24-year-old Daniel Elena-Lopez, who can be seen in video from the Burlington store attacking multiple people with a bike lock on a chain, seriously injuring one woman.