LAPD Kills Five in Nine Days
Five of the people shot by LAPD around the Christmas holiday have died, and not a single victim was armed with guns.
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The killing of Valentina Orellana-Peralta, a 14-year-old who died after police shot her in a department store dressing room, was just one of five killings by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in a nine-day period in December 2021, capping off a year in which the LAPD killed more than double the number of civilians than in 2020, reports The Guardian. During the past week and a half, LAPD shot six people, including Orellana-Peralta. Five of the people shot by LAPD around the Christmas holiday have died, and none were armed with guns, according to official accounts.
In 2021, LAPD has shot 38 people, killing 18 of them, according to the LA Times. In 2020, the department shot 27 people, killing seven of them. Those figures were similar to 2019, when LAPD shot 26 people, killing twelve. In the case of Orellana-Peralta, civil rights advocates questioned why an officer with an assault rifle appeared to fire at 24-year-old Daniel Elena Lopez, who did not have a gun, without attempting to deescalate and without assessing whether bystanders could be endangered. Advocates argued that the surge in killings was part of a pattern of misconduct this year that required systemic change. In most instances, police have released few details about the people they killed and why police resorted to deadly force. But even with the limited information available, critics say the circumstances do not indicate deadly force was merited. See Also: The Tragedy of Valentina and the ‘Clear Shot’ Provision The Crime Report, Dec. 29, discussing lethal force and standard procedures.
