A Los Angeles Police Department officer who accidentally shot and killed a teenager in a store will not face charges from the California Justice Department.
The California Justice Department announced today that it has found no cause to file chargesagainst a Los Angeles police officer who, while aiming at a suspect, shot and killed a 14-year-old girl hiding in a department store fitting room.
Fourteen-year-old Valentina Orellana Peralta was picking out a quinceanera dress with her mother just before Christmas in 2021. She was shot and killed by a bullet that ricocheted off the floor.
So far, sentiment seems very understanding of the tough situation and a call that had unforeseen circumstances.
Except, oh wait, it’s all bullshit passive voice copaganda.
From the literal article:
Los Angeles officer Jordan Head had a 40-millimeter bean bag gun, but before he could aim it at the suspect, Jones fired his AR-15 three times.
Head “did not discharge the 40-millimeter launcher because, before he could aim, rounds were fired, and the suspect fell to the ground and was no longer an immediate threat,” according to the Justice Department analysis of the shooting.
Officer Michael Mazur, who assumed command of the scene on arrival, told Jones to “slow down” multiple times, and at some point later told Head “It’s f—– up. We tried to slow it down.”
How does someone come to a point where police going around with an AR-15 is even legal, much less common?
What kind of large field ops with trained & organised counterparty are they expecting to encounter on a daily basis outside of an active warzone? And in a store?
All it took was two dudes in body armor robbing a bank for every cop in America to shit their pants in fear. They're so afraid of being helpless again that they went and bought fucking tanks.
Are you sure they were cops? We've had soldiers patrolling on and off since the terrorist attacks, and I don't think French cops carry anything other than handguns during their normal shift.
Oh, that's possible. I tend to instinctively assume American rules wherever I go since they're what I know, and we virtually never deploy our military domestically, so I wouldn't have thought to try to distinguish cops from the military.
To be clear in case I wasn't, I was referring to semiautomatic firearms. In general, only the military will carry fully automatic weapons around as a matter of course. Similarly, I'm referring to (relatively) lower caliber than the military - I wouldn't expect a cop to casually carry around a rifle chambered in .50, although I certainly would expect a shotgun for e.g. breaching a door when necessary.
I went to London which now feels like over two decades ago and was told they only have batons... Like 7 out of 10 cops had MP5s strapped casually to the side of them. Looking back I am like maybe 9/11 response? But that's still like a couple years after. I don't know, coming from the US I thought that was crazy. Some of our cops have shotguns usually, and in some towns, rifles in their car, and they are almost never used.
Had this same experience when I visited London 20+ years ago. Turns out it was the opening of Parliament that brought out all the MP5s according to the staff at the hotel.
Paris, like many big European cities, is a major terrorist target. It's been hit numerous times, so they're a bit on edge there. When the alert level is high, you'll see military patrols as well. Although the effectiveness of those is dubious.