LOS ANGELES — A wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the Los Angeles Police Department over an officer's fatal shooting of a 14-year-old girl in a clothing store is set to begin trial Wednesday. On Dec. 23, 2021, Valentina Orellana-Peralta was shopping for Christmas clothes with her mother at a Burlington store in North Hollywood when a bullet passed through the dressing room wall and struck her.

Police had been responding to calls for help after a man wielding a bike lock attacked two women in the building. Officer William Dorsey Jones Jr. fired his rifle three times as armed officers walked through the store, killing the man and Orellana-Peralta.

The lawsuit, filed by the girl's parents, alleges wrongful death, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress, according to court filings. It also alleges that the LAPD failed to adequately train and supervise the responding officers and fostered an environment that allowed the shooting to occur.

The lawsuit states that Soledad Peralta felt her daughter's body go limp and watched helplessly as her daughter died in her arms. "Valentina had her entire life in front of her, and it was taken in an instant due to reckless decisions made by the very people who were sworn to protect her," attorney Nick Rowley said.

Jones told the LAPD Use of Force Review Board that he believed someone inside the store was shooting people and mistook the man's bike lock for a gun. He said he thought a wall behind the man backed up against an exterior brick wall, but it was actually the women's dressing rooms.

In 2022, the Los Angeles Police Commission ruled that Jones was justified in firing one shot but that his two subsequent shots were out of policy. Then-Police Chief Michel Moore found in his own review that all three shots were unjustified.