Police bullet killed store employee during LA gunbattle

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore says a store worker killed in a gunbattle before a suspect took hostages in a supermarket was hit by an officer’s bullet.

Moore told reporters Tuesday the suspect fired at officers Saturday after crashing a car outside the market and the officers returned fire.

The chief says 27-year-old store employee Melyda Corado had run to the front of the store with others at the time of the crash and was near the suspect, 28-year-old Gene Evin Atkins.

Moore says Atkins earlier shot and wounded his 76-year-old grandmother at their South Los Angeles home and fled in a car, taking with him a teenage girl who was grazed by a bullet.

Moore says numerous charges have been filed against Atkins.