Inset: Melyda “Mely” Corado (Facebook). Background: News footage shows Gene Atkins being arrested after a shootout with police at a Trader Joe’s in Los Angeles, Calif. (KTLA).
A California man who brought a gun to a Trader Joe’s and triggered a standoff that left the store’s manager dead will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Gene Atkins, 36, was sentenced to more than 200 years to life in prison after being convicted of 40 felony charges, including second-degree murder. The charges stemmed from the July 21, 2018, standoff that killed 27-year-old Melyda “Mely” Corado. Atkins’ crime spree began at his grandmother’s home in South Los Angeles, where he shot his 76-year-old grandmother and his 17-year-old girlfriend. He then stole his grandmother’s vehicle and led police on a pursuit to the Trader Joe’s in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Atkins also tried, unsuccessfully, to carjack someone at a gas station. Shortly after the incident, then-Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore said Atkins opened fire on pursuing officers before crashing into a pole near the Trader Joe’s.
Atkins left the vehicle and fired at police as he ran into the store, prompting LAPD officers to return fire. He suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his arm. Moore said, “One of the officers’ rounds struck Ms. Corado as she was exiting the market and was in close proximity to Atkins. Ms. Corado ran back into the store and collapsed behind the manager’s desk.”
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Other Trader Joe’s employees pulled Corado outside so paramedics could treat her, but rescuers were unable to save her.
Atkins was convicted at trial in June on 40 charges, including three counts of attempted murder, six counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and 24 counts of falsely imprisoning a hostage. He was also found guilty of two counts each of attempted carjacking and mayhem, along with one count each of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s vehicle and driving or taking a vehicle without consent.
The jury initially deadlocked on the murder charge. Corado’s family successfully sought a retrial, and Atkins was convicted of murder in the subsequent proceeding.
After the murder conviction, Hochman said in a press release that Atkins’ “deadly and reckless actions” caused Corado’s death. Corado’s family later sued the LAPD and the officers who fired the fatal shots. In September 2024, the city of Los Angeles agreed to a $9.5 million settlement.
