A bullet fired by the LAPD killed the Trader Joe’s employee who died during a hostage situation during the weekend, Chief Michael Moore said Tuesday at a news conference.
Ballistics tests show that a Los Angeles police officer fired the shot that struck and killed Melyda Corado, 27, during a shootout with an alleged hostage taker at the Silver Lake supermarket Saturday, Moore said.
Source: Trader Joe’s employee, who died in hostage situation, killed by LAPD gunfire, chief says | Fox News
UPDATE:
Chief Moore is quoted here as saying:
“I know that it is every officer’s worst nightmare, to harm an innocent bystander during a violent engagement,” Moore said. “I spoke to both of these officers this morning. They are devastated. They were devastated in the immediate aftermath of this event — that a person died in their efforts to stop Atkins. This is a heartbreaking reminder of the split-second decisions that officers must make every day. And it is also a sobering reminder of the destruction a lone individual with a handgun can create.”
Indeed, it is “a sobering reminder of the destruction a lone individual with a handgun can create”, yet how dare Moore attempt to turn this into an argument for restricting gun ownership? The type of gun control needed here is better training of LAPD! In all of my own training and the training i provide others, you never fire unless you know the range is clear of innocent bystanders. Both officers are clearly guilty of a Rule 4 violation (standard gun safety rules). Fromt the video, they appear to be engaging from a distance and could easily have stayed behind cover. There was no extant active shooter situation inside the Trader Joe’s. Most of those inside were exiting, including the store manager who was shot.
Moore is further quoted here:
“I believe it’s what they needed to do in order to defend … the people in that store and to defend themselves.
Defend the people in that store? Really?
How about issuing them concealed carry permits so they can defend themselves?
Similar trigger happiness was seen recently in the bodycam video, below, of a Vegas cop shooting from his moving car, actually through his windshield. There always appear to be some exigent circumstances justifying these Rule 4 non-compliant gunshots (in the Vegas video for example, long police chase by multiple units and shots fired back at cops by second occupant), yet the units could pull back or block traffic, etc., lots of other alternatives available that are superior to firing shots off blindly in populated areas:
