Los Angeles agrees to pay $9.5 million to settle lawsuit over death of woman in 2018 shootout between police and gunman

The city of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a woman who was shot and killed by police during a shootout with a gunman at a grocery store in 2018, the family’s attorneys said Friday.

Melyda Corado, 27, was working as an assistant manager at a Trader Joe’s in the Silver Lake neighborhood on July 21, 2018, when a gunman being chased by police got into a shootout with officers as he ran inside the store.

According to police, Corado was killed in a shootout.

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Paperwork blocks access to a Trader Joe’s grocery store, the scene of a shooting, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, July 22, 2018. (AP)

The shooter, Gene Evin Atkins, had previously been charged with shooting his grandmother, kidnapping his girlfriend and shooting at police officers as they chased him in a vehicle and then on foot as he ran into the store.

He took dozens of people hostage in the store before later surrendering.

Corado’s father and brother filed a lawsuit in November 2018, alleging civil rights violations and wrongful death.

A makeshift memorial of flowers, candles and notes grows on the sidewalk outside the Trader Joe’s store in Los Feliz, the scene of a shooting, in Los Angeles, Sunday, July 22, 2018. (AP)

Corado’s family attorney, Neil Gehlawat, said his death could have been prevented if officers had followed their training during the shootout with the gunman.

“Officers must consider the dangers they pose to bystanders when using deadly force, and the officers here failed to do so,” Gehlawat said in a statement.

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Melyda Corado, 27, was killed in the crossfire. (iStock)

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The Los Angeles Police Commission has concluded that the officer who fired the shot that killed Corado did not violate police department policy. The commission said in a report that the officers acted reasonably because they suspected the shooter posed an immediate threat of injury or death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.