Funeral for Valentina Orellana Peralta, 14, will be held Monday at City of Refuge Church in Gardena.
Tyrone Napper never knew Valentina Orellana Peralta or her family. But when he heard about how the 14-year-old was killed by a Los Angeles police officer while shopping with her mother, he felt compelled to take a 30-minute bus ride Saturday morning to the girl’s public viewing at Angelus Funeral Home in Crenshaw.
Valentina and her mother, Soledad Peralta, had been shopping for dresses on Dec. 23 and were in the changing room of a Burlington store when one of three rounds fired by Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr.Jones was firing at a man, later identified as Daniel Elena-Lopez, who had assaulted customers with a bicycle lock and was holding the lock at the time of the shooting, according to police and body camera footage of the incident.
Anthony Curtis, funeral director at Angelus Funeral Home, said Valentina’s death has hit many hard because it makes them think of their own children. One caller to 911 who identified herself as an employee had told a dispatcher that a man, later identified as Elena-Lopez, was assaulting customers with a bike lock in the store. Another caller told another dispatcher, incorrectly, that the man had a gun. He did not have a firearm.
Within seconds, Jones had reached the woman, turned to his right and fired three rounds at Elena-Lopez, who was moving away from Jones and the woman at the opposite end of a shopping aisle.