The city of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a woman who was shot and killed by police during a shootout at a grocery store in 2018, the family's lawyer announced Friday.
Merida Corado, 27, was working as an assistant manager at a Trader Joe's in Silver Lake on July 21, 2018, when a man with a gun being pursued by police fled into the store and a shootout ensued with officers.
Police said Collado was killed in a shootout during the shootout.
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Red tape blocks access to the Trader Joe's grocery store where a shooting occurred in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, July 22, 2018. (Associated Press)
The shooter, Gene Evin Atkins, had already been charged with shooting and killing his grandmother, kidnapping his girlfriend and firing at officers who pursued him in a car and on foot as he fled into a store.
He took dozens of people hostage inside the store but later turned himself in.
Corado's father and brother filed a lawsuit in November 2018 alleging civil rights violations and wrongful death.
A makeshift memorial made of flowers, candles and notes is set up on the sidewalk outside the Trader Joe's in Los Feliz, the site of a shooting in Los Angeles, Sunday, July 22, 2018. (Associated Press)
Neil Gehlawat, a lawyer for Ms Kolad's family, said her death could have been prevented if officers had followed their training during the shootout.
“Officers must consider the danger to bystanders before using lethal force, and this officer failed to do so,” Gefrawat said in a statement.
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Merida Collado, 27, was killed in the crossfire of the gunfight. (iStock)
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The Los Angeles Police Commission found that the officers who fired the shots that killed Mr. Corado did not violate department rules. The commission said in its 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.
