A short exchange of gunfire between LAPD officers and 28-year-old Gene Atkins following a police pursuit Saturday left the manager of the Silverlake Trader Joe’s dead. Christian Dunlop lives next door to the food market and stepped outside to find out what was happening.
“I started to see a couple of people running from the store – actually, from the vantage point I had, I saw people running from the back entrance … and then I began to see employees. I could tell they were employees, because they were all wearing their Hawaiian shirts, of course … at a certain point, I did see one of the employees drag a lifeless body out, at which point 6 or 7 armed officers flanked the body and escorted it out; escorted the body out. It was very shocking. I’ll never get that image out of my head.”
It’s not clear if the Trader Joe’s employee, identified as Melyda (MEH-LEE-dah) Corado, was shot and killed by the hostage taker, or during the exchange of gunfire between Atkins and the officers.
Christian Dunlop was a guest on McIntyre in the Morning.
By Sandy Wells
KABC News
