No Charges for Los Angeles Police Officer Who Shot Teenage Girl in Department Store

The California Attorney General revealed on Wednesday that the Los Angeles police officer who shot a 14-year-old girl in a department store in 2021 will not face any criminal charges. Valentina Orellana-Peralta was shopping with her mother at North Hollywood Burlington when she was shot by one of the bullets that was fired by the LAPD when trying to apprehend a man suspected of attacking shoppers in the store caught her. 

William Dorsey Jones Jr., the LAPD officer fired three rounds into the store and the girl who was in one of the stalls was caught in the gunfire. The incident happened around the Christmas holidays and it sparked a lot of outrage which led the California Justice Department to conduct investigations into fatal police shootings that harm innocent victims.

According to the California Justice Department, William Dorsey could not be charged as there was “insufficient evidence to support criminal prosecution”. According to a report released by the state’s attorney general after an investigation of the incident, the second and third shots that Jones fired were unjustified as the use of such deadly force was not necessary.

Body camera footage of the 2021 incident shows that the officer did not attempt to de-escalate the situation before shooting at Daniel Elena, the man who was assaulting customers in the store. Elena was also killed. 

The decision not to charge William Dorsey comes after the LA police commission had made a ruling that Dorsey had violated policy during the shooting which has caused uproar among civilian activist groups.