Soledad Peralta and Juan Pablo Orellana Larenas, the parents of Valentina Orellana-Peralta, attend in a news conference outside the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021.
AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu
- US President Joe Biden and Chilean President-elect Gabriel Boric held their first call on Thursday.
- Biden congratulated the new leftist head of state and the two discussed Valentina Orellana-Peralta.
- Orellana-Peralta, a 14-year-old Chilean girl, was killed by an LAPD officer’s stray bullet while shopping.
President Joe Biden congratulated Chilean president-elect Gabriel Boric during their first call on Thursday and offered condolences Valentina Orellana-Peralta, a 14-year-old Chilean teenager killed by an LAPD officer’s stray bullet while shopping for Christmas dresses.
The teenager had moved to the US six months ago, studying and seeking to become an American citizen.
“President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. called President-elect Gabriel Boric of Chile today to congratulate him on his election victory,” press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. “On behalf of the United States, the President also offered his deep condolences to the people of Chile for the tragic death of Valentina Orellana-Peralta.”
Orellana-Peralta’s family spoke to the public on Tuesday for the first time since Valentina was killed by an unnamed LAPD officer’s stray bullet in a Burlington store on December 23. Her family and attorneys called for justice and an investigation at the local, state, or federal level.
The press conference came a day after the Los Angeles Police Department released footage of the shooting that killed the teenage bystander and 24-year-old assault suspect Daniel Elena-Lopez.
Chileans elected 35-year-old Boric as their next president on December 19, making him the youngest in the nation’s history.
Boric, a former student protest leader and lawmaker, ran on radical reforms on inequality in his platform, calling for raising taxes on the rich, creating a greener economy, and re-drafting the Constitution, The New York Time reported
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