A shooting at a Los Angeles department store killed a person who went on a violent rampage – and a 14-year-old girl who was Christmas shopping along with her mother, says a newly published report to the 2021 incident.
The investigation was mandated by a state law that covers any shooting by a police officer that ends in the death of an individual not in possession of a deadly weapon.
The shootings took place on December 23, 2021, at a store in Burlington within the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Officer William Jones Jr. fired three shots at Daniel Elena Lopez, 24. One of the shots fatally struck Elena Lopez. Another went through a wall right into a dressing room, where he fatally struck the girl Valentina Orellana Peralta.
The report's timeline begins at 10:30 a.m., nearly 90 minutes before the shooting. In a residential area five blocks from the shop, Elena Lopez reportedly threw a lady to the bottom in front of her apartment constructing and punched and kicked her. He then ran across the road, entered one other woman's apartment, poured a carton of milk over his head and ran out.
At 11:24 a.m. he was in the shop and immediately caught the eye of employees because he brought a bicycle onto the escalator. He became clothes and boots from the shop – stripping right down to his underwear in an aisle – after which returned to the escalator, followed by employees. There he threatened to throw the bike to the primary floor after which began smashing the shop's furnishings and equipment with a motorbike cable lock.
The timeline reports frantic activity within the 10 minutes before police arrived: Elena Lopez continued smashing things with the bike lock and pushing and grabbing three women; Employees attempted to evacuate customers; and 911 dispatch received five calls, one in all which incorrectly stated that “a man with a gun” was firing shots contained in the store.
When the primary 4 LAPD officers arrived, they planned to incapacitate the attacker with a “less-lethal” foam projectile after which entered the constructing. Elena Lopez ran up the escalator and into the back of the shop.
As officers followed him, a lady he had hit repeatedly with the bike lock stumbled out in front of them, bleeding profusely from the pinnacle.
At about this time, Officer Jones arrived behind the unique 4 officers. Just because the team leader asked them to decelerate so he could assess the situation, Jones walked past and said, “Let me fire the rifle forward.”
The officer with the projectile launcher raised it once they saw Elena Lopez and said, “Wait, Jones, I got it.” Before he could fire, Jones fired his rifle 3 times from a distance of 16 feet.
Thirty seconds later, officers heard screaming from the locker room and discovered Valentina and her distraught mother.
Elena Lopez and Valentina each died on the scene, each hit by a bullet. The coroner's investigation found methamphetamine, amphetamine and marijuana in Elena Lopez's body.
Jones, a 12-year veteran of the force, was not required to talk to investigators and the report doesn’t include an account of him. The report states, “Officer Jones likely believed he was acting in self-defense or defense of others.” It is unknown whether he heard information over the police radio that indicated Elena Lopez was not believed to be in possession of a firearm .
The report is the eighth released under California's law, which went into effect in July 2021. The seven other reports also found that no criminal charges were warranted against any officer.
As of April 2024, the attorney general had called for an investigation into 56 fatal shootings by law enforcement officials.
image credit : www.mercurynews.com