Page 7 - ARUBA TODAY

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U.S. NEWS Monday 23 July 2018

Gunman in Trader Joe's standoff

looking at murder charge

By MICHAEL BALSAMO the man in Hollywood, but four of the hostages.
Associated Press he refused to pull over, po- His grandmother was taken
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A lice said. During the chase, to a hospital in critical con-
gunman who took dozens he fired at officers, shooting dition but her current con-
of people hostage at a out the back window of his dition was not immediately
Trader Joe's store in Los An- car. known.
geles was booked Sunday More gunfire ensued be- On Sunday, grieving family
on suspicion of murder, af- fore Atkins crashed into a members, co-workers and
ter an employee was killed pole outside the supermar- customers remembered
during the man's shootout ket. The man exchanged Corado as lively, hardwork- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, center, and Police Chief
with police, in what the su- gunfire with police again ing and always smiling. Michel Moore, right, brief the media at a news conference
after a gunman held dozens of people hostage inside a Trader
permarket chain described and that's when Corado A makeshift memorial of Joe's supermarket before surrendering to police in Los Angeles
as the worst day in its his- was shot and killed, Police flowers, candles and notes Saturday, July 21, 2018.
tory. Chief Michel Moore said. grew on the sidewalk out- Associated Press
Gene Evin Atkins, 28, re- Customers and employees side of the store on Sunday.
mained behind bars on frantically dove for cover "I'm sad to say she didn't — would remain closed for pany spokeswoman Ke-
Sunday in lieu of $2 million and barricaded them- make it. My baby sister. My the foreseeable future to nya Friend-Daniel said in a
bail, according to Officer selves inside storerooms world," her brother, Albert give their employees time statement. "Our thoughts
Drake Madison, a Los An- and bathrooms as bullets Corado said on Twitter. to process and grieve. are with her family, and our
geles police spokesman. fired by police shattered Trader Joe's said the store "Yesterday marks the sad- Crew Members and cus-
Atkins had been licensed the store's glass doors. — known by customers as dest day in Trader Joe's tomers who experienced
to work as a security guard, As he heard gunfire, Sean a neighborhood hangout history as we mourn the this terrifying and unimagi-
but his license expired in Gerace, who was working with great customer service loss of one our own," com- nable ordeal."q
November 2017, accord- in the back of the super-
ing to state records. It was market, grabbed several
not clear whether the par- of his co-workers and the
ticular license he possessed group made their way into
would have allowed him to an upstairs storage area.
legally carry a firearm. He grabbed a folding lad-
A 27-year-old Trader Joe's der and tossed it out a
employee, Melyda Cora- window, helping his col-
do, was killed as Atkis ran leagues escape to safety,
into the supermarket in the he told KNBC-TV.
city's Silver Lake neighbor- "I grabbed an emergency
hood on Saturday. Police ladder, barricaded the
did not provide any ad- hallway, grabbed a weap-
ditional details on Sunday on, put the ladder out the
and it remained unclear window and just tried to
whether she died from po- get the attention of the
lice gunfire or was killed by SWAT officer," Gerace told
the gunman. the television station.
Investigators believe At- Heavily armed officers in
kins shot his grandmother riot gear stood along the
seven times and wounded side of the store and used
another woman, who po- mirrors to look inside as hos-
lice initially described as his tage negotiators tried to
girlfriend, at his South Los coax the man into freeing
Angeles home earlier Sat- his 40 to 50 hostages and
urday afternoon. surrendering. Meanwhile,
He stole his grandmother's police removed the female
car after the shooting, ac- passenger in the car, who
cording to police, and had a graze wound, from
forced the other woman the scene.
into the vehicle. Officers About three hours later,
had tracked the car using Atkins agreed to handcuff
a stolen-vehicle tracking himself and walked out the
system and tried to stop front door, surrounded by