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A mother whose 14-year-old girl was accidentally killed by a stray police bullet in Los Angeles says her daughter “died in my arms”.
Valentina Orellana-Peralta was with her mother in a clothes shop on 23 December when an officer opened fire on a suspect.
The bullet pierced a wall and hit her.
Soledad Peralta wept as she described begging officers to help her daughter, but that they “just left her laying there”.
In a statement read by a lawyer, Mrs Peralta recounted how she and her daughter heard a commotion and screaming outside the changing room while trying on dresses for a birthday party at the North Hollywood department store.
They sat down together, hugged each other and prayed.
Mrs Peralta said she felt something hit her daughter, throwing them both to the ground.
She said Valentina’s body “went limp” and she “tried to wake her up by shaking her, but she didn’t wake up”.
Valentina died in her arms, Mrs Peralta said.
She screamed for help, but no one came.
“When the police finally came, they took me out of the dressing room and left my daughter laying there. I wanted them to help her, but they just left her laying there alone.”
Mrs Peralta said seeing a son or daughter die in your arms is one of the “most profound pains any human being can imagine”.
LA Police Chief Michel Moore has promised a “thorough, complete and transparent investigation” into what he called a “chaotic incident”.
Police had been responding to reports that a man was acting erratically inside the store and attacking customers with a heavy bike lock. He was also shot dead.
Emergency calls included reports that the suspect had a gun, but no firearm was found.
Police bodycam footage shows officers closing in on the man with their guns drawn as he bludgeons a woman.
Valentina’s father, Juan Pablo Orellana, said the actions of the police officers involved were negligent.
“I will not rest until the last day, until all these criminals are in jail,” he said.
Her family said the 14-year-old, a Chilean immigrant, loved skateboarding and hoped to one day become a US citizen.
Mr Orellana showed reporters a skateboard bought for her as a Christmas present. He said he would now “have to take it to the grave, so she can skate with the angels”.
“It is like my whole heart has been ripped out of my body,” he added.
“The pain of opening the Christmas presents for her that have been delivered for Christmas Day cannot be articulated.”
