CALIFORNIA—On Tuesday, August 18, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that Gene Atkins, 36, was found guilty of murder in connection with the 2018 fatal shooting of a Trader Joe’s manager during a shootout with police officers where he held shopper’s hostage inside the store for more than three hours.
Jurors deliberated for less than a day before finding Atkins guilty of one count of second-degree murder. He was being retried on the murder count after a separate jury deadlocked on guilt.
In June 2026, Atkins was convicted of 3 counts of attempted murder, 6 counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, 24 counts of false imprisonment of a hostage, 2 counts each of attempted carjacking and mayhem and one count each of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, fleeing a pursing peace officer’s vehicle and driving or taking a vehicle without consent. He faces life in prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced on August 24.
On July 21, 2018, Atkins got into an argument with his grandmother Mary Madison, 76, and shot her and his 17-year-old girlfriend, injuring the girlfriend and prompting the defendant to flee the scene with the younger woman.
He fled in a vehicle and led authorities on a pursuit. Atkins tried to carjack an individual at a gas station, during the chase, but was unsuccessful.
Atkins got into a collision and struck a utility pole in the 2700 block of Hyperion Avenue near a Trader Joe’s store in Silver Lake, where he entered the store and fired a weapon at police officers. As police and Atkins traded gunfire, Melyda Marciela Corado, 27, was fatally shot.
The standoff lasted more than three hours as Atkins held more than two dozen shopper’s hostage before he was arrested by police. In 2019, Atkins pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but it was determined he was competent to stand trial 2 years later. He attempted to represent himself before hiring an attorney.
The case was prosecuted by Benjamin Schwartz of the Major Crimes Division and Ani Bailey of the Target Crimes Division and was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.
