Now it's confirmed, and oh boy, what a nightmare public relations scenario.
At LAT, "A wild chase, a gun battle, then tragedy as officer's bullet kills Trader Joe's employee":
Two Los Angeles police officers tore through traffic on Rowena Avenue on Saturday afternoon in a high-speed pursuit of an attempted murder suspect driving a Toyota Camry.More.
Suddenly, the back window of the Camry shattered.
Forty-five seconds later, the Camry veered into a utility pole in front of a Trader Joe’s and the driver bolted for the entrance, firing his gun wildly from his hip, according to dashboard and body-cam footage released by the Los Angeles Police Department on Tuesday.
The officers had less than two seconds to react before the gunman fled into a store full of shoppers. But a bad shot could hit a bystander. The video showed a man by the entrance and another behind the wreck, but not who was behind the glass front doors.
The officers opened fire. The suspect was hit in the arm but made it into the store, shooting at least three times at police from inside. A beloved Trader Joe’s manager, Melyda Corado, 27, died in the shootout.
On Tuesday, the police chief announced that one of the officers’ bullets had killed her.
“On behalf of myself and the rest of the department, I want to express my deepest condolences and sympathy to her family and everyone that knew her,” Chief Michel Moore said of Corado. “I know that it’s every officer’s worst nightmare to hurt an innocent bystander during a violent engagement. I spoke with the officers this morning — they’re devastated. They were devastated in the immediate aftermath of this event.”
Moore said she was coming out of the market and was close to the suspect. Gene Atkins, who allegedly had shot his grandmother earlier Saturday, survived the gunshot wound and surrendered to authorities hours later. No one else was injured...
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