Family friends, civil rights activists and community members on Monday memorialized a 14-year-old girl shot and killed in a clothing store dressing room when Los Angeles police fired at a suspect and a bullet pierced a wall.
The body of Valentina Orellana-Peralta was displayed in an open casket next to a large photo of the girl during a funeral at City of Refuge, United Church of Christ in Los Angeles.
Orellana-Peralta was remembered as a happy teen with many friends who loved sports and excelled in school.
“We pray for peace and justice for this innocent blood spilled,” said Benjamin Crump an attorney for the girl's family.
Orellana-Peralta died in her mother’s arms Dec. 23 at a Burlington store in the San Fernando Valley’s North Hollywood neighborhood. Police officers shot and killed a suspect who was behaving erratically and brutally attacked two women.
One of the police bullets went through drywall behind the man and killed the girl, who was in a changing room with her mother, police said.
During Monday's service, an emotional Crump led mourners in a chant of “Valentina is innocent!”
Valentina’s mother, Soledad Peralta, said last month that the family had left Chile to get away from violence and injustice in search of a better life in the U.S. Monday's ceremony was translated in real time by a Spanish interpreter.
Her family has said the teen loved skateboarding and had dreams of becoming an engineer to build robots. They said she earned good grades, even though English was her second language and she’d only been in the U.S. for about six months.
