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A woman was shot dead when a 28-year-old man stormed a Trader Joe’s in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon and held hostages for three hours before surrendering to police.
The woman, Mely Corado, was killed early into the hostage situation, police told reporters on Saturday night, and was the only fatality of the day. Mely had worked at Trader Joe’s since 2014.
LAPD sources told ABC7 Mely was the store manager.
The gunman allegedly shot his grandmother ‘up to seven times’ before fleeing in her car with a woman believed to be his girlfriend, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said.
Garcetti said the suspect got into an argument with his grandmother about 1.30pm, and the woman believed to be his girlfriend, who was ‘forcibly taken’ with him, was also injured but is expected to survive.
The man’s grandmother was transported to hospital in ‘grave condition’, has undergone several surgeries and remains in a critical condition, LAPD Chief Michael Moore said.
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Pictured: Mely Corado, the Trader Joe’s employee who was killed in the store when the suspect ran in on Saturday afternoon
Pictured: The 28-year-old man who allegedly stormed the supermarket on Saturday and took dozens of hostages. He is seen being treated for a gunshot wound to his left arm, sustained in a shootout with police
The man who held up to 50 people hostage at Trader Joe’s and allegedly killed a woman inside surrendered to police in handcuffs on Saturday evening
Pictured: The suspect, who is 28 years old, allegedly shot his grandmother as many as seven times before holding as many as 50 people in a Trader Joe’s hostage
Pictured: The suspect (pictured center), handed himself into police just after 6.30pm after a three-hour siege
Mayor Eric Garcetti said a woman had been shot dead inside the store
Pictured: A young victim is taken away from the store in a wheelchair with a bandage on their knee an
When the man fled the scene of the first alleged shooting, police caught up to him, and he shot at officers multiple times. Police chased him from Hollywood into Silverlake, where he crashed outside the shop, shot his girlfriend, and ran inside.
The vehicle was seen wrapped around a pole and police rescued the 20-year-old woman left inside. Her injuries have not been confirmed, but are believed to include a gunshot wound, KTLA reported.
Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times the woman is his girlfriend, and he had fired at officers, who fired back, before he ran inside the supermarket.
LAPD told KCAL the man had shot his grandmother and girlfriend about 1.30pm, before fleeing the Hollywood scene in a 2015 Toyota Camry and arriving at the supermarket before 3.30pm
When he did surrender to police just after 6.30pm, the man emerged with handcuffs on and with four hostages, as was previously agreed to in negotiations between the man and LAPD, ABC reported.
Police swarmed the Trader Joe’s in Silverlake on Saturday afternoon after the gunman barricaded himself inside
PIctured: The suspect’s car, which he crashed into a street pole before running into the shop
SWAT teams positioned themselves tactically around the shopping center as they tried to help hostages escape
Hostages were seen escaping from a ladder near the front of the store (pictured)
Law enforcement spent hours working to evacuate employees and customers, including small children, with at least one person seen fleeing with injuries.
While many were seen fleeing from the supermarket, it is believed there were still as many as 30 people inside just after 4pm.
Mayor Garcetti confirmed to reporters the man had been in contact with LAPD during the hostage situation, and initially had 40-50 customers and employees in the store with him.
‘A slow and steady stream of people who had hidden and were helped by LAPD to escape, or people who were released by the hostage taker [were seen leaving the store],’ he said.
The gunman was injured in his left arm during his shootout with police, and NBC reported towards the end of the hostage situation, people he had forcibly taken were helping him with his wounds.
Devin Field said on Twitter he was about to enter the Trader Joe’s when the man’s car crashed into a street lamp outside.
‘I was walking in when he crashed into the entrance and got out shooting,’ he said.
‘I ducked behind the four-foot retaining wall in the parking lot and three LAPD officers ran over, knelt behind it right next to me and opened fire.’
Field says others who had been evacuated said the gunman ‘walked in shooting’, demanded a jumper and a phone, and moved the remaining hostages to the back of the store.
Pictured: A Trader Joe’s employee is comforted after escaping the supermarket where the man barricaded himself with hostages
A Trader Joe’s cart left by a customer who fled a hostage situation in the store sits in a parking lot nearby
Police used mirrors held through a shot-out window to see where the suspect was positioned
A police officer with a helmet is seen carrying a child away from the store
Pictured: Armed police follow an officer seen helping a child escape
An employee told him there was ‘blood all over the floor’, but they did not know where it’d come from. He says another employee said one Trader Joe’s worker was shot in the arm.
Field’s account has not been confirmed by any official sources.
Don Kohles , 91, was also walking into the Trader Joe’s when the suspect crashed his car into the street pole.
He says police fired at the male driver and shattered the store’s glass doors. Kohles says he and others inside took cover and laid on the floor as the suspect ran inside.
He says the man ran toward the back of the store and yelled at people inside but he never heard any more gunshots.
The elderly man said he was terrified and others around him were sobbing. After about 30 minutes, he says police came him and rushed them outside.
The suspect entered the store after crashing their car outside following a police car chase
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