'When Your Daughter Dies, There Are No Words', Says Dad Of Trader Joe's Manager
HOLLYWOOD HILLS (CBSLA) — Caring, hardworking, ambitious and funny.
Melyda "Mely" Corado was all those things to so many people.
And those were just a few adjectives used during Sunday's public memorial for the young woman killed during last weekend's Trader Joe's standoff in Silver Lake.
"When your mother dies, you become an orphan. When your wife dies, you become a widow[er]. When your daughter dies, there are no words," said the father of the 27-year-old Corado.
He was among thousands who gathered inside Liberty Hall at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills to remember the beloved daughter, sister and friend who was described as loving life and living fearlessly.
Corado was killed by a bullet fired by Los Angeles police as officers tried to stop what they feared could become a mass shooting inside the store located in one of the city's congested neighborhoods.
The suspect, Gene Evin Atkins, 28, was arrested and has since been charged with murder, attempted murder and slew of other charges.
Atkins also stands accused of shooting his grandmother seven times, kidnapping his girlfriend, and shooting at officers as they chased his car before he ran into the Trader Joe's were police say he held at least 40 people hostage on July 21.
Corado was an assistant store manager who had been with the company for close to five years. Police said she was walking out the door when one of the rounds of gunfire went through her arm and into her body. She died at the scene.
Sharing reflections, friends of Corado described her as a "comic" who was "raw, unfiltered, and un-apologetically funny."
CBS2's Joy Benedict said that was funny with a twist.
One mourner -- her niece -- remembered the time Mely babysat for her.
"And you said my mom was never coming back," she laughed. The audience roared.
Her friends and family are clearly going to miss her sense of humor and her.
"My brother, father and I have had a hard time and there's moments if feels so hopeless but I feel Mely everywhere," said her brother Albert.
Atkins made an initial court appearance last Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when he was due back in court.