California won't prosecute LAPD officer who shot teenage girl in store's dressing room

The California Justice Department announced today that it has found no cause to file chargesagainst a Los Angeles police officer who, while aiming at a suspect, shot and killed a 14-year-old girl hiding in a department store fitting room.

Fourteen-year-old Valentina Orellana Peralta was picking out a quinceanera dress with her mother just before Christmas in 2021. She was shot and killed by a bullet that ricocheted off the floor.

Veraxus,

Step 1: Take away cops guns. No lethal weapons for cops. Not a SWAT team? No guns.

Halosheep,

The cops show up and kill more people than the suspect. How surprising.

Ultragigagigantic,
@Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world avatar

Deny justice long enough and people will get their own in the worst way possible.

Red89,

How is it not negligence? If a citizen did the same thing, they would get charged with negligence.

Malfeasant,

Remind me again why vigilante justice is discouraged in favor of unhinged cops?

Buddahriffic,

Because vigilantes won’t selectively enforce the laws so that friends of the elites can do whatever the fuck they want.

Otakulad,

Ah yes. The classic “We investigated ourselves and found we did nothing wrong defence.”

Things like these need to be held by an independent team and no info given about those involved, e.g. the shooter was a police officer. Some people keep saying the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. The fact the shooter was an officer should have no bearing on the outcome then.

Also, getting an independent team means new jobs for people. Get better results and be a job creator.

MedicPigBabySaver,

ACAB

girlfreddy,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

As always, ACAB.

whoreticulture,

plus All Cops Are Incompetent

Thorny_Insight,

Sounds like an honest accident to me. I don’t think we should punish people for accidents or for the very least it should be taken into consideration in the sentencing. He was there after an active shooter. That takes courage - we need people like him.

BigMacHole,

I AGREE! I don’t care HOW MANY INNOCENT CHILDREN DIE, we need MORE COPS COURAGEOUSLY killing people armed with bike locks!

almar_quigley,

How about no, and you should really be fucking ashamed of your pandering ass. Imagine one of your loved ones was murdered by a cop who was just being brave….you’d be fine with that? Don’t answer, just gtfo.

RegalPotoo,
@RegalPotoo@lemmy.world avatar
  • There were other officers on the scene
  • The other officers had warned the officer who fired to slow down and de-escalate, but they were ignored
  • The other officers had non-lethal options, but the officer escalated and fired live rounds in a situation where they couldn’t know if they were putting bystanders in danger

Any asshole with a gun can shoot it. If you want courage, you want officers who are professionals, trained to de-escalate, contain and protect, not militant thugs who spray rounds at the spray rounds at the slightest provocation with no regard for bystanders

trafficnab,

There were other officers on the scene

One of which had a shotgun, the rest were armed with either their service pistols or non-lethal, the officer with the AR-15 took point because he had the most effective weapon for the sorts of long ranges you would see in a large department store with a reported active shooter

The other officers had warned the officer who fired to slow down and de-escalate, but they were ignored

It was not about deescalating, this was a (in two separate 911 calls from people in the store) reported active shooter in a now unknown location, and the officers were attempting to follow their training by forming into a group and slowly moving through the store to find and eliminate the threat, they were telling him to slow down because he was pushing ahead out of formation (I believe upon seeing the woman that was attacked, blood streaming down from the multiple lacerations on her head and face, attempting to crawl towards them for help)

The other officers had non-lethal options, but the officer escalated and fired live rounds in a situation where they couldn’t know if they were putting bystanders in danger

Lethal force is certainly authorized in (what is believed to be) an active shooter situation, with hindsight we can say he didn’t have a gun but the officers at the time not only didn’t know that, they were told the opposite, he was both armed and had already fired the weapon. Upon spotting the suspect, he was holding something (a painting) in front of him, concealing half of his body, and with a gun trained on him made a rapid movement with his free hand behind the painting, which is ultimately what got him shot

not militant thugs who spray rounds at the spray rounds at the slightest provocation with no regard for bystanders

The officer fired three rounds, one of which either missed or over penetrated, ricocheted off of the ground, and then penetrated a wall to unfortunately kill an innocent bystander hiding in a changing room behind

Cops are overwhelmingly shit and need better training, but aside from the almost freak accident killing of the innocent bystander, this was more or less a textbook handling of an active shooter situation by police who probably have never otherwise responded to one in their life, without the two errant 911 callers who apparently mistook breaking glass for gunshots the response would have likely been very different

FurtiveFugitive,

almost freak accident

The purpose of firing a gun is to take a life. It’s not a freak accident that this cop pulled the trigger and someone died. That’s what the weapon is explicitly designed to do. It’s also the reason cops should not be drawing guns as their first response.

Garbanzo,

He was there after an active shooter.

He was there after an active bike lock swinger. Get the facts straight before you get to licking boots.

Evil_Shrubbery,

I mean, there was an active shooter.

That was just shooting at all the things (like the floor), not even aiming. I wonder how many shots it took the active shooter to realise he was the only active shooter. Or was that completely besides the point of wanting desperately to use that gun?

trafficnab,

Three shots, one of which ricocheted off the ground, penetrated a wall, and killed the 14 year old hiding in the changing room behind where the shooting took place

Thorny_Insight,

Jones told investigators that he believed someone inside the store was shooting people, that he saw a bleeding victim, mistook the bicycle lock Elena Lopez was wielding for a gun

He thought it was an active shooter so the courage it takes to go in is the same even if it turns out later that it wasn’t. Calling me a bootlicker is a completely unecessary ad-hominem.

Maggoty,

Yes, every other cop there knew and tried to get him not to shoot but he was the special snowflake that day so his idiocy must be respected.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Do you think maybe the cop was lying about mistaking the bicycle lock for a gun considering bicycle locks do not look remotely like guns and lying about it would give him cover?

voracitude,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/84197f9e-ee5f-4426-b0d9-e94829e01e0a.jpeg

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Just astounding what people will accept as truth from cops. If I said “I saw someone swinging a bicycle lock around and I thought they had a gun instead so I shot them,” no one would buy that excuse. But if a cop says it?

Croquette,

Maybe their bootshine taste delicious? Can’t see any other reasons

Garbanzo,

He thought it was time to play commando and ignored the more sensible and responsible officers around him. But you’ll believe his lies and consider him a hero despite his absolute incompetence causing the death of an innocent young woman. I hope the boot polish gives you cancer.

Sami_Uso,

These MFS think acorns are gunshots. We cannot trust them to tell the truth about what the felt in the moment. It’s a problem whether or not you can sympathize with the officer.

theareciboincident,

So far, sentiment seems very understanding of the tough situation and a call that had unforeseen circumstances.

Except, oh wait, it’s all bullshit passive voice copaganda.

From the literal article:

Los Angeles officer Jordan Head had a 40-millimeter bean bag gun, but before he could aim it at the suspect, Jones fired his AR-15 three times.

Head “did not discharge the 40-millimeter launcher because, before he could aim, rounds were fired, and the suspect fell to the ground and was no longer an immediate threat,” according to the Justice Department analysis of the shooting.

Officer Michael Mazur, who assumed command of the scene on arrival, told Jones to “slow down” multiple times, and at some point later told Head “It’s f—– up. We tried to slow it down.”

Evil_Shrubbery,

How does someone come to a point where police going around with an AR-15 is even legal, much less common?

What kind of large field ops with trained & organised counterparty are they expecting to encounter on a daily basis outside of an active warzone? And in a store?

Garbanzo,

All it took was two dudes in body armor robbing a bank for every cop in America to shit their pants in fear. They’re so afraid of being helpless again that they went and bought fucking tanks.

Madison420,

Technically it was two.

The one heat was based on in California and the college tower sniper a few years later.

quindraco,

How does someone come to a point where police going around with an AR-15 is even legal, much less common?

I’ve only seen this once in my life, when I was visiting Paris, and the cops were casually lounging around with rifles.

In America, generally a cop will carry a pistol, and keep rifles or shotguns in their car (in the trunk).

loutr,
@loutr@sh.itjust.works avatar

Are you sure they were cops? We’ve had soldiers patrolling on and off since the terrorist attacks, and I don’t think French cops carry anything other than handguns during their normal shift.

quindraco,

Oh, that’s possible. I tend to instinctively assume American rules wherever I go since they’re what I know, and we virtually never deploy our military domestically, so I wouldn’t have thought to try to distinguish cops from the military.

activ8r,

we virtually never deploy our military domestically

Doesn’t sound like you’d need to if the cops are running around with that kind of fire power in their cars.

quindraco,

To be clear in case I wasn’t, I was referring to semiautomatic firearms. In general, only the military will carry fully automatic weapons around as a matter of course. Similarly, I’m referring to (relatively) lower caliber than the military - I wouldn’t expect a cop to casually carry around a rifle chambered in .50, although I certainly would expect a shotgun for e.g. breaching a door when necessary.

Evil_Shrubbery, (edited )

Yeah, those were special forces (was it after those terrorist attacks?).

I don’t know of any country in Europe where caps would keep rifles or shotguns in cars.

Corkyskog,

I went to London which now feels like over two decades ago and was told they only have batons… Like 7 out of 10 cops had MP5s strapped casually to the side of them. Looking back I am like maybe 9/11 response? But that’s still like a couple years after. I don’t know, coming from the US I thought that was crazy. Some of our cops have shotguns usually, and in some towns, rifles in their car, and they are almost never used.

Metacortechs,

Had this same experience when I visited London 20+ years ago. Turns out it was the opening of Parliament that brought out all the MP5s according to the staff at the hotel.

AnUnusualRelic,
@AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world avatar

Paris, like many big European cities, is a major terrorist target. It’s been hit numerous times, so they’re a bit on edge there. When the alert level is high, you’ll see military patrols as well. Although the effectiveness of those is dubious.

hddsx,
  1. Treat every gun as if is loaded
  2. Never point your gun at anything you aren’t willing to destroy
  3. Keep your finger off the trigger and out of the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot
  4. Be aware of your target and what’s beyond it
Drusas,

If only we could get these heavily-armed cops to follow basic firearms safety protocols.

Potatos_are_not_friends,

Sounds difficult. Easier to just continue giving them inadequate training and have the city pay out millions of dollars every time a cop wants to kill someone.

Aganim,

Never point your gun at anything you aren’t willing to destroy

“Don’t point gun at fellow cops, check. Okay, maybe except Ray, because he’s just a total softy.”

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar
  1. The cop was fully aware it was loaded.
  2. The cop was willing to destroy the target.
  3. The cop was ready to shoot immediately.
  4. The cop couldn’t give less of a shit what’s beyond their target.

You don’t know cops very well.

hddsx,

You’re missing the point. Anyone who is unable to follow firearm safety should be disqualified from holding a position that will require the use of a firearm.

Your flippant attitude doesn’t help anything. Yes, peace officers seem to have no moral code and are currently a detriment to society. However, resigning them to your point of view is somewhere between pessimistic and harmful. We must be open to changing this system for the betterment of society.

Fedizen,

the problem is the cops don’t care and they’re not incentivized to care

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

My flippant attitude is based on this article.

I don’t disagree that you shouldn’t have a gun if you can’t follow basic safety protocols. Unfortunately, California (and the rest of America overall) does disagree. Which was my point.

Potatos_are_not_friends,

I don’t think you get the point.

You can say things like “Y’all rape is bad” and we can make laws to also say rape is bad but not enforce it on a few people, then shit is fucked up.

hddsx,

That’s a false equivalence.

The comment they made is about a subset of people, not just a few people.

It’s like saying “Rape is bad” and then someone coming along and saying something like:

“Mexicans think rape is good. You don’t know Mexicans”

Rape is bad, period.

Semi_Hemi_Demigod,
@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

You’re missing the point. Anyone who is unable to follow firearm safety should be disqualified from holding a position that will require the use of a firearm.

But thanks to the 2nd Amendment anyone who is unable to follow those rules can have multiple guns

Ultragigagigantic,
@Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world avatar

If those cops could read they would be beating you senseless for resisting arrest.

Kalkaline,
@Kalkaline@leminal.space avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    Garbanzo,

    There was an active shooter

    No, there wasn’t. Dude was hitting people with a bike lock. The only way it comes out differently is if you hold the police accountable for their horrible judgement, but clearly we’re not going to do that.

    trafficnab,

    There were two separate 911 calls reporting an active shooter from people hiding in the store (apparently both mistook the smashing of glass as the sound of a gunshot), the officers that responded treated it as an active shooter situation because that’s what they were told it was

    Silentiea,
    @Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    Showing up ready for a shooter because that’s what was reported is prudent. Being cautious as though a shooter may appear soon because that’s what was reported is prudent. Shooting to kill someone not armed with a gun while other parties are present and while your cohort has nonlethal weapons on hand and ready to use instead isn’t prudent any more

    Garbanzo,

    Maybe we should ask Andrew Finch if the police should believe everything they’re told over the phone.

    CaptainSpaceman,

    Neat.

    HonoraryMancunian,

    This is obviously sarcasm

    CaptainSpaceman,

    Guess only you understood lol

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