‘Kill It!’ Woman Tries to Stop CNN From Doing Live Hit During Funeral of Teen Girl Killed in LAPD Shooting

A woman tried to stop a CNN reporter from doing a live hit in the middle of the funeral for Valentina Orellana Peralta, the 14-year-old girl who was tragically killed by an LAPD officer’s stray bullet.

Ms. Orellana-Peralta was tragically killed two days before Christmas in an incident that captured national attention. The young woman was in a changing room at a Burlington Coat Factory store when she was fatally shot by gunfire by Los Angeles Police Department officers who were shooting at an assault suspect named Daniel Elena-Lopez, who was also killed. The 24-year-old man had attacked several customers with a bike lock, video released by police showed.

In video posted to Twitter by Los Angeles-based journalist Frank Stoltze, CNN en Español correspondent Gonzalo Alvarado can be seen preparing to give a live report in front of a camera setup while the funeral takes place in the background. An unidentified woman can be seen approaching him, and tells the reporter and the cameraman to “Kill it!”

Stoltze, who covers criminal justice and politics for public radio station KPCC, wrote “@CNN did a live shot from inside the sanctuary during the funeral for Valentina Orellana Peralta today. Someone tried to stop them, to no avail.”

.@CNN did a Liveshot from inside the sanctuary during the funeral for Valentina Orellana Peralta today. Someone tried to stop them, to no avail. pic.twitter.com/g15uzVCTw7

— Frank Stoltze (@StoltzeFrankly) January 11, 2022

But as Stoltze noted, the plea was apparently ignored. On Monday’s edition of Redacción con Gabriela Frias, anchor Gabriela Frias tossed to Alvarado for a live report that lasted over three minutes.

Some of that time, about 20 seconds, was devoted to a clip of Rev. Al Sharpton speaking to reporters about the killing. But for most of the report, Alvarado was live onscreen as mourners could be seen behind him.

Watch Alvarado’s  report above via CNN en Español.

Update: According to CNN, the media coordinator for the funeral approved the location and the timing of the live shots, and when the woman objected, the crew stopped filming, then told her they were in the location where press was told to be, and that the organizer was aware of media liveshots.