Jury selection is underway in the family's wrongful-death lawsuit over the 2021 Burlington store shooting that killed 14-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta. The civil trial, held at the Burbank Courthouse, pits Valentina's parents against the City of Los Angeles, the LAPD, the officer who fired and Burlington Stores. Family attorneys say the courtroom battle is an early shot at accountability after criminal prosecutors declined to file charges.
Jury selection begins in Burbank
According to NBC Los Angeles, jury selection began Wednesday, and the trial is expected to continue for several days at the Burbank Courthouse. Courtroom proceedings are set to focus on officers' decisions and on what layers of oversight, training or policy the lawsuit argues failed Valentina.
What happened inside the store
Body-camera and store video show a suspect attacking a woman with a cable bike lock on the second floor before officers confronted him, witnesses and investigators say, according to the Los Angeles Times. Officer William Jones fired three times; investigators say one round ricocheted off the floor, passed through a wall and struck Valentina in a dressing room while she was with her mother.
Family's lawsuit and claims
Valentina's parents filed a wrongful-death complaint in July 2022 alleging negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and failures to train and supervise, according to the court filing. The complaint names the City of Los Angeles, the LAPD, Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. and Burlington Stores, and it demands a jury trial.
Criminal review and oversight findings
The California Attorney General's Office announced on April 17, 2024, that it would not pursue criminal charges in the case, the Associated Press reported. The city's civilian Police Commission later concluded that the first shot was within policy while the second and third were out of policy, Los Angeles magazine reported.
What's at stake
The civil trial will determine whether the city and the LAPD are liable for damages and could force testimony and documents about how officers were trained and deployed. The case arrives as the city faces an overspending gap of more than $208 million partly tied to legal settlements, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Valentina's mother, Soledad Peralta, described the panic in the store and the aftermath: "As I lay screaming for help, the police did not come to help me or my daughter, but I kept screaming," she told reporters, according to ABC7. As jurors begin weighing evidence, the courtroom will decide whether civil liability and reform follow where criminal charges did not.
