LAPD killing of Trader Joe's manager in hostage standoff leads to murder conviction
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Set us as preferred A Los Angeles County jury handed down a murder conviction against a man responsible for a chaotic 2018 LAPD pursuit that ended with police accidentally killing a Trader Joe’s store manager in Silver Lake.The guilty verdict against Gene Atkins was delivered Tuesday in a downtown courtroom.The jury found that although Atkins didn’t fire the bullet that killed Melyda “Mely” Corado, his actions provoked a gun battle with police.
One of rounds fired by LAPD officers in the confrontation sailed into the grocery store and killed Corado.A previous trial against Atkins earlier this year ended with jurors acquitting him of first-degree murder and deadlocking on a second-degree murder charge.
He was convicted in June of dozens of assault, attempted-murder and hostage-taking charges.California Gene Atkins was acquitted of murder charges in the 2018 death of Mely Corado, a Trader Joe’s manager who was felled by LAPD bullets during a shootout between police and the convicted felon.The incident that led to the charges began when Atkins shot two people and took one of them hostage.
As he fled, Atkins shot at officers while running red lights and colliding with multiple vehicles.He ended up outside the Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake, where Corado, 27, was an assistant manager.
While the store was crowded with Saturday afternoon shoppers, police exchanged fire with Atkins and wounded him.Corado was hiding inside the store when she was fatally struck by the police bullet.
A pending lawsuit alleges police bullet fragments also hit a woman sitting nearby in her car; the city has denied responsibility in court filings.The jury that returned the verdict Tuesday concluded that Atkins, 36, used and fired his gun during the chase.In his closing statements Monday, Los Angeles Deputy Distt.
Atty.Ben Schwartz argued that...