LAPD accidentally kill 14-year-old girl with stray bullet

Los Angeles police accidentally killed a 14-year-old girl with a stray bullet on Thursday as they fired at a suspect who had assaulted a woman earlier.

Police responded to reports of a person being assaulted with a deadly weapon and to shots being fired in the North Hollywood area of the San Fernando Valley.

At the scene, police opened fire when they saw the suspect assaulting another person. The police officers killed the suspect.

"The officers encountered an individual who was in the process of assaulting another, and an officer-involved shooting occurred," said Los Angeles police Captain Stacy Spell at a news conference.

One of the bullets went through a dressing room wall and hit the 14-year-old girl. She was found during a search for additional suspects and victims, reported the police.

Update: As ofcrs contacted the suspect and OIS occurred, one of the officer’s rounds penetrated a wall that was behind the suspect, beyond that wall was a dressing room. Officers search the dressing room and found a 14 year old female victim who was struck by gunfire.

— LAPD PIO (@LAPDPIO) December 24, 2021

"At this time we believe it was a round coming from an officer," said LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Choi.

“The dressing room was behind where the suspect was, in front of the officer,” Choi said. “You can’t see into the dressing rooms. It just looks like a straight wall of drywall.”

Authorities do not yet know the suspect’s motives. The woman who has assaulted had moderate to serious injuries and was transported to a hospital. It is unclear whether there was any connection between the woman and the suspect.

"We're at the very preliminary stages of this investigation," Spell said. "There's still a lot of surveillance video to review, there are witnesses to interview."