{"id":1009203,"date":"2026-08-18T19:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T19:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1009203\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T19:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T19:06:17","slug":"verdict-reached-in-second-trial-over-deadly-trader-joes-shootout-nbc-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1009203\/","title":{"rendered":"Verdict reached in second trial over deadly Trader Joe\u2019s shootout \u2013 NBC Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jurors have reached a decision in the second murder trial of a man accused in a gunfight at a Silver Lake<\/a> Trader Joe’s that resulted in the tragic death of a store employee.<\/p>\n

Gene Evin Atkins, 36, is charged with second-degree murder in the second of two trials stemming from a series of crimes leading up to and including the deadly shootout. The charge includes an allegation that he personally used and discharged a firearm during the July 21, 2018 crime in the neighborhood north of downtown Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

During the shootout, assistant store manager Melyda “Mely” Maricela Corado, 27, was caught in the crossfire and struck by bullet fired by a LAPD officer.<\/p>\n

The verdict is expected to be read soon. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors urged jurors to convict Atkins for setting in motion the chain of events that led to Corado’s death. The defense argued the shooting was not a foreseeable consequence of Atkins’ actions.<\/p>\n

Jurors began deliberations Monday afternoon about two months after the first jury convicted him<\/a> of 40 other counts that could carry a potential life prison term, but acquitted him of the most serious charge of first-degree murder and deadlocked 10-2 in favor of guilt on second-degree murder involving Corado’s shooting death.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAn assistant manager at the Silver Lake store was struck and killed by a round fired by a LAPD officer who responded to the standoff. Camilla Rambaldi reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9, 2026.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The deadly chain of events on\u00a0July 21, 2018<\/a>\u00a0unfolded after Atkins allegedly shot his then 77-year-old grandmother in an attack that also injured his girlfriend, then led police on a pursuit that ended when he crashed into a pole outside the Trader Joe’s. Atkins was shot in his arm when he ran from his car and into the store in the community northeast of downtown LA.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said<\/a>\u00a0Atkins fired shots at officers and held people hostage inside the store. Hostages inside the store were ordered to create a “human shield” around him, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

They alleged it was Atkins’ choices that led to the standoff and Corado’s death.<\/p>\n

Atkins surrendered about three hours with four remaining hostages.<\/p>\n

The first jury spent about three days in deliberations before finding Atkins guilty of 24 counts of false imprisonment of a hostage involving Trader Joe’s employees and customers, along with counts of assault with a firearm on an officer, three counts of attempted murder, two counts each of mayhem, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and attempted carjacking.<\/p>\n

He was also found guilty in June of one count each of fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle while driving recklessly, assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury and driving or taking a vehicle without consent.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Corado’s family\u00a0settled a wrongful death lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0with the city for nearly $10 million. The Los Angeles Police Commission determined the officer who fired the shot\u00a0did not violate<\/a>\u00a0department policy.<\/p>\n

In a sworn statement submitted to the court in May 2024, the officer who fired the shot said, “I had no alternative but to fire my weapon at Gene Atkins in order to stop this deadly threat that he, himself, had created. I fired based upon his actions and stopped when I realized he was moving into the Trader Joe’s entrance to avoid striking individuals inside, despite the fact that he was still considered a violent fleeing felon and continued to pose an imminent threat of serious\/great bodily injury and\/or death while inside Trader Joe’s.”<\/p>\n

The officer said shots fired by Atkins struck a nearby pole, forcing officers to take cover behind a concrete wall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jurors have reached a decision in the second murder trial of a man accused in a gunfight at…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1009204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,1035,2961,4530,224,5337,59322],"class_list":["post-1009203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-crime-and-courts","tag-la","tag-lapd","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-silver-lake"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117118080663697919","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1009203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1009204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1009203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1009203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1009203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}