Police video shows officer shooting that killed bystander in Los Angeles clothes shop
- The Los Angeles Police Department posted an edited video package online that included emergency calls, radio transmissions, body camera footage and surveillance video from the December 26 shooting
- Valentina Orellana-Peralta, 14, who was hiding with her mother inside a dressing room, was killed by a bullet fired by police
Video released on Monday showed Los Angeles police firing at a man suspected of assaulting customers last week at a clothing shop, a shooting that also killed a 14-year-old girl hiding in a dressing room who was struck by a bullet that went through a wall.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) posted an edited video package online that included emergency calls, radio transmissions, body camera footage and surveillance video from the Thursday shooting at a Burlington, California shop crowded with holiday shoppers. The department’s policy is to release video from critical incidents, such as police shootings, within 45 days.
Surveillance video showed the suspect attacking two women, including one who fell to the floor before he dragged her by her feet through the store’s aisles as she tried to crawl away.
Multiple people including shop employees called police to report a man striking customers with a bike lock at the store in the North Hollywood area of the San Fernando Valley. One caller told a police dispatcher that the man had a gun. No firearm – only the bike lock – was recovered at the scene.
The early surveillance footage showed a man in a tank top and shorts carrying a bicycle up the store’s escalator to the second floor, where he wandered around, seemingly disoriented, clutching a cable-style bike lock. At times he stood motionless, staring into the distance.
The footage later showed the man on the down escalator attacking a woman, who managed to escape his grip and run out of the store.
The man then left the shop for a minute and a half, police said. After he returned, according to the video, he repeatedly beat a woman with a bike lock while she cowered on the floor. As she tried to escape, he dragged her through the aisle toward the dressing rooms.
