LAPD cop who fatally shot 14-year-old girl at Hollywood Burlington store

A Los Angeles cop who mistakenly shot a teenager girl dead at a Burlington store in Hollywood while trying to take down a suspect has been revealed to be a veteran black officer and advocate for the BLM movement in the force. 

William Dorsey Jones Jr, 42, who has served in the LAPD for more than 10 years, shot 14-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta while she hid inside a dressing room with her mother on December 23, his lawyer confirmed to The New York Times.

On social media and his website, Jones repeatedly showed his support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and pledged to be an advocate for change in the police department. 

‘I’m a black man, I’m the father of a black son, I’ve been the vict[im] of racism,’ Jones reportedly wrote in a since-deleted Tweet. ‘I’m the LAPD. I have the power & determination to affect CHANGE in the community. I’m a proud member of the #thinblueline & #blacklivesmatter.’ 

Orellana-Peralta, who was struck by a bullet through a drywall wall, and suspect Daniel Elena-Lopez, who reportedly attacked customers with a bike lock, were both killed by police after a 911 call mistakenly reported Elena-Lopez was armed. 

Jones, now on administrative leave, is said to be ‘absolutely devastated’ by Orellana-Peralta’s death.  

Jones reportedly opened the ‘Officers for Change’ at-risk youth profit, and showcased in a since-removed website his community engagement, often sharing pictures of him delivering gifts to children, and coaching football to high school teams. 

The veteran cop had also started an apparel line in 2019 called ‘Use of Force Fitness,’ but closed it amid rising tensions between police and communities of color in 2020.    

Orellana-Peralta was struck by a bullet that went through the drywall of the dressing room she was hiding inside as cops stormed a Burlington Coat Factory in North Hollywood to confront a man who was swinging a bike lock at women. 

After days of protests from the community denouncing the LAPD’s ‘rushed’ and ‘excessive’ response to an unarmed Elena-Lopez, Jones was formally identified as the officer who fired the shot that killed Orellana-Peralta.  

Records show Jones opened ‘Officers for Change’ as a ‘501(c)(3) nonprofit org. on a mission to positively impact the lives of those living in At-Risk & Low Income communities’ with a ‘Sworn platform to Educate, Inspire, Mentor & Motivate.’

Jones moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to pursue a career and entertainment but became a cop instead. 

He spent eight years on patrol and three years as a community relations officer, the New York Times reported. 

Jones seemingly found a sense of purpose in his career, pledging to serve as a mediator between communities of color and the police as a member of both groups.   

‘There’s no better crime reduction strategy than to engage with our youth, for them not to be scared of us, to let them know there are people out there who care,’ Jones said in 2019 to a local news station. 

‘Being an African American police officer and from Louisville has given me a very unique perspective,’ Jones was quoted saying in a 2020 article on the website of his alma mater, the University of Louisville.    

In the footage video of the incident on December 23, fellow officers can be heard repeatedly pleading with who appears to be Jones to ‘slow it down’ and ‘hold up’ as he stalked the store aisles with a rifle searching for Elena-Lopez.  

Witnesses had called 911 dispatchers and wrongly reported that Elena-Lopez was armed, which Tom Saggau, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Protective League – the union representing Jones – said impacted Jones’ response.  

‘You’re trained to enter the facility and try to eliminate the threat so that more people aren’t shot. That’s the mindset as they’re responding to that call,’ Saggau told The Daily Beast.   

‘This is somebody who, four days ago, everybody in our country would be wanting to hire,’ he added. 

LAPD Chief Michel Moore said a ‘thorough, complete and transparent’ investigation was underway. The California Attorney General’s Office and California Department of Justice are conducting separate investigations that will determine Jones’ future in the force.

Orellana Peralta was struck in the chest while shopping for a quinceañera dress just two days before Christmas.  

The LAPD on Monday released a heavily edited package of surveillance and police body camera footage, which captured her final moments. 

In bodycam video, armed officers enter the store and approach Elena-Lopez suspected of attacking two women. 

One officer with a rifle pushes to the front of the pack as the cops go through the store in formation. Other officers repeat ‘slow down’ and ‘slow it down’ as the officer with the rifle moves forward.  

‘She’s bleeding!’ an officer shouts when they find a victim of a brutal beating, crawling on the blood-stained floor. The suspect was on the other side of the aisle.

‘Hold up! Hold up, Jones! Hold up! Hold up! another officer screams just before three shots ring out.

The officer holding the rifle pulled the trigger, police said. 

Elena-Lopez collapsed on the floor, mortally wounded. In the background of the footage, Valentina’s mother can be heard screaming in the dressing room beside her dying daughter. 

Capt. Stacy Spell said Orellana-Peralta was ‘struck by a round which skipped off the floor and entered the dressing room wall.’ 

On Tuesday, Valentina’s inconsolable parents stood outside the LAPD headquarters on and demanded justice for their daughter.  

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump joined the parents and read a translated statement written by Valentina’s mother, who revealed that she and her daughter were hugging each other and praying inside the dressing room when the bullet struck the 14-year-old in the chest, killing her just two days before Christmas. 

Speaking in Spanish and choking back tears, Valentina’s mother, Soledad Peralta, said: ‘She died in my arms. I couldn’t do anything. Having a child die in your arms is one of the most painful things you can imagine.’

The grief-stricken mother added: ‘Now our sweet angel is gone forever.’ 

The girl’s family said they had left their native Chile to get away from violence and injustice in search of a better life in the US.  

The father said he was in Chile for the holidays when his wife called him, telling him their daughter had been killed, adding in Spanish: ‘My world collapsed on me.’  

Valentina’s parents said the teen loved skateboarding and had dreams of becoming an engineer to build robots.   

Attorneys representing the Orellana Peralta family said they want the LAPD to release all the video from the crime scene and for the officer who fired the deadly shot to be held accountable.  

Police also shared the events that led up to the officer-involved shooting.   

LAPD Capt. Stacy Spell said in a pre-recorded briefing within the press package that Elena-Lopez took his bike to the second floor of the store before laying it in an aisle then he began trying on clothes. 

Police said he was asked to move it by a female store employee, and he responded by smashing a nearby computer monitor. He then hit the glass railing, took the escalator downstairs, and tried to take another woman’s purse. 

When the woman resisted, Elena-Lopez tackled her and tried to attack her with the lock. The woman, who police have yet to identify and question, was able to run out of the store. 

Elena-Lopez then attempted to grab another woman as she came down the escalator. She, too, was able to break away and run out of the store. 

He then went back up to the second floor, where he approached a woman pushing a shopping cart from behind and hit her over the head with the bike lock. She crawled away, but Elena-Lopez dragged her back toward the dressing rooms and continued beating her.  

Moore said it did not appear that Jones ‘would have known that there was anyone behind there or that he was looking at anyone other than the suspect and a wall.’ 

‘There’s not a police officer in America who would ever want this type of circumstance to occur,’ Moore added.   

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