A 14-year-old girl tragically lost her life in California recently when she was struck by a police bullet intended for another person. The deceased, Valentina Orellana, originally from Chile, had dreams of establishing a successful life in the United States. According to the Washington Post, Valentina died in her mother's arms while they were in a fitting room at a clothing store in Los Angeles.
The girl was at the store with her mother to buy clothes for Christmas celebrations, but the shopping trip ended in bloodshed and tears. The incident began when police arrived at the store to apprehend a suspect alleged to be attempting to rob the place. During the confrontation, a bullet penetrated a wall and struck the girl.
The mother, Soledad Baralta, recounted in a press conference outside the Los Angeles police headquarters that she and her daughter heard screams from outside the fitting room. Valentina then closed the fitting room door to avoid the gunfire, hugged her mother in a panic from the incident, and they began to pray for their safety.
The mother revealed that they felt a loud bang afterward and fell to the ground, but Valentina began to show signs of distress. "I didn't know she had been shot," her mother said. Soledad attempted to wake her daughter by shaking her, but to no avail. She kept shouting for help, but no one came. "When the police arrived, they took me outside and left my daughter there," she lamented. "I wanted them to help my daughter, but they left her lying there." The father stated that he currently wants nothing more than to lay his daughter to rest.
According to her parents, Valentina had arrived in the U.S. six months ago and dreamed of becoming a robotics engineer. They added that she was enjoying her American experience and aspired to obtain American citizenship and explore life in Los Angeles, but everything abruptly ended due to a stray bullet.
