A man accused of engaging in a gunfight with Los Angeles police at a Trader Joe’s store in Silver Lake, leading to the fatal shooting of the assistant manager by an officer, was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on murder and other charges.
Following a four-day hearing, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar denied the defense’s motion to dismiss murder and other counts against Gene Evin Atkins, ruling that there was sufficient evidence to allow the case against the 29-year-old defendant to proceed to trial.
Atkins — who is due back in court for arraignment Sept. 18 — is accused of setting off a chain of events on July 21, 2018, that led to the death of Melyda Maricela Corado, who was fatally shot by a police officer in front of the store in the 2700 block of Hyperion Avenue.
He is facing 51 charges, including murder, attempted murder, attempted murder of a peace officer, assault on a peace officer with a semiautomatic firearm, kidnapping, fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle while driving recklessly, grand theft of an automobile, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, shooting at an occupied motor vehicle, false imprisonment of a hostage and mayhem.
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore confirmed last year that the bullet that killed Corado was fired by a police officer, not Atkins, who surrendered to SWAT officers after about three hours of negotiations following a tense standoff inside the store, where a number of customers and employees were held hostage.
Though he did not shoot Corado, Atkins is charged with her killing under the theory that he set off the chain of events that led to the 27-year-old woman’s death.
Atkins allegedly shot his 76-year-old grandmother and his 17-year-old girlfriend in South Los Angeles, then took his grandmother’s car and led police on a wild chase during which he allegedly tried to carjack a white Jeep Wrangler at gunpoint at a gas station.
He allegedly fired shots at police during the chase, and again when he got out of the car following a crash and fled into the store, holding customers and employees at gunpoint inside before surrendering hours later.
Los Angeles police Officer Sinlen Tse testified last week that he returned fire after Atkins, who was shot in the left forearm during the gun battle, got out of the damaged vehicle and began firing toward police.
“I fired approximately five shots in total,” the officer testified.
Another officer, Cesar Corona, told the judge that he saw the back window of the Toyota Camry that Atkins was driving shatter during the pursuit, and that he heard a police radio broadcast from other officers that shots were being fired toward them. He said he heard a bullet whiz by him from the direction of the Trader Joe’s, was in fear of getting shot and ducked behind a small wall for cover, and subsequently heard a “ping” as if a bullet had struck a metal pole near him and other officers.
Deputy District Attorney Tannaz Mokayef told the judge that Atkins shot at the officers as they pursued the Camry and that he “continued his premeditated assault” on the officers from both outside and inside the store.
LAPD criminalist Matthew Saucedo testified that three discharged nine-millimeter cartridge cases were found inside the store where Atkins holed up, including two in the produce area and one on the floor.
The judge heard testimony from a series of witnesses, including Trader Joe’s customers and employees, who testified that they were fearful to try to leave the store during the standoff since Atkins was armed with a handgun. Several said they heard Atkins threaten a police negotiator that people would be brought out in body bags unless police snipers moved from a nearby rooftop.
Mary Linda Moss, a store customer who helped the defendant to speak with police, testified that she didn’t know that Corado had been injured until she walked by the mortally wounded woman to retrieve a jacket for Atkins at his request.
“I stayed because I felt like I could not leave,” she said.
Moss said she and several others — who were still remaining in the store after others had been allowed to leave — walked out with Atkins after handcuffing him with a pair of handcuffs provided by police and putting his gun inside a bag.
Another customer, Lynne Westafer, said, “I was afraid for my life.”
Store employee Nolan Klosterman said he believed those inside the store were being used as “bargaining chips” during Atkins’ negotiations with police.
When asked if he was afraid for his safety, Klosterman said, “Yes, because I was in a threatening situation. I was a hostage. There was a gun,” he said, noting that there was also a lot of blood on the floor. “The picture paints itself. It was terrifying.”
Another Trader Joe’s worker said Atkins directed him and a male customer to move Corado’s body from the store, where she had retreated after being shot.
Emma Argueta, who was in a car leaving the Trader Joe’s parking lot, told the judge that she heard gunfire after Atkins got out of the Camry and that her boyfriend screamed that her eye was bleeding. She said she remembers sitting frozen in the vehicle and telling herself, “I’m probably going to die. I’m probably going to die.”
Argueta said she had to undergo surgery that day and still has difficulty seeing with her right eye.
Atkins’ attorney, Michael Morse, told the judge that there is no evidence that his client had anything to do with the injury to Argueta, which resulted in mayhem and assault charges against the defendant.
“… It’s pretty obvious from the evidence that if something flew in this lady’s eye it happened after the last shot fired by the police department, probably a ricochet, a piece of something off a wall may have flown in her eye,” the defense lawyer told reporters outside court after the hearing.
Relatives of Corado filed a lawsuit Nov. 29 against the city of Los Angeles and two LAPD officers, saying they were still seeking answers about the shooting that the city and police department have refused to provide.
Attorney John C. Taylor, representing Corado’s father and brother, called it an “out-of-policy” shooting. He said Trader Joe’s had no liability in the shooting and that the store “was as much a victim as Mely Corado.”