Video Shows Chaos and Violence at Scene of 14-Year-Old Girl's Death

LOS ANGELES — A pistillate clutched astatine her bloodied look successful an aisle splotched with reddish arsenic she scrambled distant from a antheral who had been pummeling her with a motorcycle lock. A frightened worker astatine the Burlington covering store told Los Angeles constabulary officers that a antheral was “going crazy” successful the store.

“I person a hostile lawsuit successful my store attacking customers!” she told dispatchers successful a 911 call. “He’s walking astir the store looking for people.” Someone other called successful a study of “a feline with a gun.”

A scrum of officers mounted the escalators successful a diamond formation, weapons drawn. Within moments of spotting the man, aboriginal identified arsenic Daniel Elena Lopez, 24, astatine slightest 1 serviceman opened fire.

As Mr. Elena Lopez laic wounded connected the ground, a woman’s anguished wails could beryllium heard. They seemed to beryllium coming from the dressing rooms nearby, wherever 14-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta had been with her mother. In what the constabulary present accidental was a tragic accident, she excessively had been fatally changeable by an officer’s bullet.

The country unfolded successful chaotic item connected Monday successful newly released footage from surveillance and constabulary assemblage cameras of the occurrence connected Thursday that near some Mr. Elena Lopez and Ms. Orellana-Peralta dead.

The 35-minute compilation shed caller airy connected the city’s latest high-profile constabulary shooting, which has reignited an aggravated statement successful Los Angeles implicit the relation constabulary should play successful keeping communities safe.

This year, Los Angeles Police Department officers person fatally changeable 18 people, The Los Angeles Times has reported, much than doubly the fig who were changeable and killed by the section past year.

With the merchandise of the video connected Monday, Los Angeles constabulary made it wide that it was 1 of their officer’s bullets that struck the 14-year-old miss successful the dressing room.

“Preliminarily, it is believed the unfortunate was struck by a circular which skipped disconnected the level and entered the dressing country wall,” the video said. Mr. Elena Lopez did not person a weapon successful his possession, the constabulary person said.

Police Chief Michel R. Moore said past week that helium was committed to conducting a “thorough, implicit and transparent investigation.” Tom Saggau, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents constabulary officers, said the department’s probe would beryllium followed by a proceeding held by a five-member civilian commission.

The civilian rights lawyer Ben Crump, who has represented the families of respective high-profile victims of constabulary shootings, arsenic good arsenic the household of George Floyd aft helium was murdered by a constabulary serviceman successful Minneapolis past year, announced that helium had been hired by Ms. Orellana-Peralta’s family.

Mayor Eric Garcetti, successful a statement, pledged to respond to Ms. Orellana-Peralta’s decease “with the transparency, sensitivity and accountability that Valentina’s household deserves.”

In the aftermath of monolithic demonstrations against constabulary brutality and racism spurred by Mr. Floyd’s death, Mr. Garcetti and different metropolis leaders vowed to marque changes, including diverting wealth distant from instrumentality enforcement budgets to different services.

Mr. Garcetti past twelvemonth supported a $150 cardinal cut to a $1.7 billion-plus constabulary budget. Leaders of different cities, including the mayors of Oakland and San Francisco, made akin calls.

But galore efforts astatine reforming instrumentality enforcement practices person fizzled arsenic leaders successful Los Angeles and crossed California person scrambled to code fears of rising convulsive transgression and anxiousness provoked by a question of high-profile “flash mob” robberies astatine high-end stores.

This year, Mr. Garcetti and the City Council backed a modest increase successful backing for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this period unveiled a $350 cardinal connection to crack down connected crime, with astir of the wealth going to section instrumentality enforcement agencies. The aforesaid day, San Francisco’s mayor, London Breed, declared a authorities of emergency aimed astatine cleaning up the “nasty streets” of the Tenderloin district, breaking with the wide conventions that person shaped the city’s governance for decades.

Progressive activists successful Los Angeles person described those declarations arsenic a disheartening reversal.

“Nothing has changed,” said Albert Corado, whose sister was changeable and killed by constabulary officers during a standoff astatine a Trader Joe’s successful 2018, an incidental with grim parallels to the latest shooting successful North Hollywood. “It’s all, ‘Spin the communicative and marque it truthful the constabulary don’t person to beryllium held accountable.’”

Mr. Corado said helium felt compelled to instrumentality location to Los Angeles from Minneapolis wherever helium had been surviving erstwhile his sister, Melyda Corado, an adjunct manager astatine the Trader Joe’s, was killed by a stray slug arsenic constabulary exchanged gunfire with a antheral they had been pursuing.

The officers progressive did not look charges related to Ms. Corado’s death.

Mr. Corado is present moving for the Los Angeles City Council successful hopes of moving to dismantle the city’s constabulary department, an bureau that helium said is excessively fundamentally flawed to beryllium repaired.

“I deliberation we request an full restructuring of the metropolis government,” Mr. Corado said. “If we tally up what the strategy we person successful spot present has really done, it doesn’t code the reasons wherefore radical perpetrate crime. It’s not serving anybody but the ultra wealthy.”

But immoderate of those who are campaigning to go Los Angeles’s adjacent politician resisted drafting conclusions from the still-sparse accusation disposable astir Thursday’s shooting.

“One happening does not pb you to accidental we tin nary longer betterment police,” said Representative Karen Bass, who is the front-runner successful the race. “We request to proceed to propulsion for accountability and transparency.”

Kevin de León, a subordinate of the City Council who is besides considered a apical contender for mayor, said that the task facing Los Angeles’s adjacent person is simply a important one.

“The adjacent politician indispensable beryllium susceptible of balancing the request for constabulary reforms and ensuring that transgression is not a menace to nationalist safety,” helium said. “I don’t deliberation you tin unrecorded successful a satellite of absolutes.”