A little girl's funeral left me grieving with her parents, wanting police reform

GARDENA, Calif. – I sat as I have too many times before – staring into the casket of a dead child. She looked peaceful in her pink dress, her glasses still on her angelic face and her bangs perfectly coiffed.

Valentina Orellana-Peralta, only 14, had dreams of becoming an American citizen and a robotics engineer. But she was fatally shot last month by a Los Angeles Police Department officer while shopping at a Burlington store in North Hollywood. She died in her mother's arms.

"I was told not to cry because I would get her wings wet and then she wouldn't be able to fly," her mother, Soledad Peralta, said through tears Monday.

She and Valentina's father, Juan Pablo Orellana Larenas, both spoke at the funeral, with the assistance of translators. I swallowed sobs thinking about the pain they are forced to reconcile. Their little girl – gone in a flash.

'Child's innocent blood ... spilled'

The Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroner ruled the girl's death a homicide by a gunshot wound to the chest. Valentina was shot two days before Christmas, while in a dressing room with her mom, as police responded to reports of an assailant in the department store.

"It should have never happened," attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, told me before funeral services began. "It was foreseeable, two days before Christmas, that if you shoot in a shopping center that innocent people would be harmed.

"They have training and policies for this that we believe were not followed," Crump continued. "Now we’re dealing with this child’s innocent blood being spilled and her family heartbroken that she never got to live her life.”

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Valentina's parents told funeral organizers that they wanted Gospel music. And they got it. The City of Refuge Church rocked as the choir encouraged the grieving parents through song to put all of their burdens in God's hands. The crowd of about 150 mourners swayed and many jumped to their feet in exaltation.

See, though they were there for a somber occasion, a funeral is a celebration of life. Valentina was taken too soon, but her life was worth praising.

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The Rev. Al Sharpton, who eulogized Valentina, described her as "a 14-year-old Latina angel." She was a child who instead of being able to wear the Christmas dress she was seeking, is instead dressed for her funeral. Her existence should have been protected, yet her life was snatched away by an LAPD officer with a long rifle.

"This is not only a tragedy, it is a travesty," Sharpton said. "There was value to the life of Valentina."

A dead child and a need for reform

As a journalist, I have to write about the tragedies of life. But it's never easy, particularly when a child dies. I don't know if the officer who shot Valentina followed department procedures or not. But I do know that a girl is dead, a family is grieving and calls for police reform should not fall on deaf ears.

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I'm not sure what that reform should look like. But I do think we know that bullets can penetrate walls. We know that shooting into a occupied building can result in the death of innocent bystanders. We know that officers should be trained and opt to deescalate situations before using deadly force.

I am sure I don't want to attend another funeral like this, with grieving parents mourning a child taken too soon. I've seen this too often, this time with Valentina's family gathered around her casket one final time, as 40 homing doves were released.

I would like to think they met Valentina in the sky and soared together.

National columnist/deputy opinion editor Suzette Hackney is a member of USA TODAY’S Editorial Board. Contact her at shackney@usatoday.com or on Twitter: @suzyscribe

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Funeral of girl killed by LAPD left me wanting police reform