No criminal charges will be filed against the Los Angeles Police Department officer who fired a rifle inside a North Hollywood Burlington store in 2021, killing both a man armed with a bike lock and a 14-year-old girl who was cowering with her mother out of sight in a dressing room.
The California Department of Justice found no evidence that Officer William Dorsey Jones, Jr. “acted without the intent to defend himself and others from what he reasonably believed to be imminent death or serious bodily injury” when he fired a service rifle at 24-year-old Daniel Elena Lopez, who was standing at the other end of an aisle of merchandise from him.
Lopez had just been swinging a bike lock at a woman, bloodying her head and sending her scrambling to get away from him when Jones turned the corner into the aisle.
Jones fired three shots at Lopez, hitting him once, as other officers behind Jones can be heard telling him to slow down and “hold up.” Video of the incident shows Jones did not order Lopez to surrender before firing.
One of those shots, according a bullet-trajectory analysis in the DOJ report, hit the floor behind Lopez and skipped upwards, piercing the outer wall of the dressing room where 14-year-old Valentina Orellana Peralta was hiding. The bullet struck Orellana Peralta in the chest and killed her.
While the DOJ faulted the tactics and bad communication of the LAPD officers who responded to the store that day, the agency said there was no evidence Jones’ actions were criminal.
This is a developing story, and updates will be provided as more information becomes available.