Murder With My Husband - 51. The Trader Joe's Tragedy

Episode Date: March 8, 2021

Payton tells Garrett the story of the 2018 Trader Joe’s hostage situation on this episode of MWMH. LIVE ONLINE SHOW TICKETS HERE! https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources: 48 hours season S31E24 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Trader_Joe%27s_hostage_incident https://www.courthousenews.com/grandmother-says-alleged-trader-joes-shooter-shot-her-first/ https://fox5sandiego.com/news/man-pleads-not-guilty-in-fatal-trader-joes-shooting/ https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-09-03/trader-joes-gunman-murder-trial Link: https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Marlin and I'm Garrett Marlin and with My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. We just want to say thank you to all of our listeners, a reminder that we have a Patreon that has bonus episodes. So if you want to check that out, it is Murder with My Husband Patreon, as well as if you are watching on YouTube.

Go ahead and subscribe and turn on notifications so that you can be reminded every single time we upload a new video. Okay, Gare, what's your 10 seconds for this episode? Mm, I'm not really sure. I think the only 10 seconds I have is that it's finally getting warmer outside. It is.

It's been pretty warm this whole week. We've been going on walks, which has been fun. Kind of. Yeah, I know what. We tried and it was like, it was still a little too cold. We didn't make it out of the neighborhood, or if that helps. It's true. We literally went like 200 feet and then turned around.

Okay, so our case sources for today's episode are a 48 hours episode season 31, episode 24, Wikipedia, courthousenews.com, Fox5Sandiego.com, and LA Times.com. Our episode starts on July 21st, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. And so, we're going to be talking about the end of the video. So, we're going to be talking about the end of the video. So, we're going to be talking about the end of the video. So, we're going to be talking about the end of the video.

So, we're going to be talking about the end of the video. So, we're going to be talking about the end of the video. So, we're going to be talking about the end of the video. So, so I don't I don't remember hearing about this case either Even though it's only an hour away So 2000 and what sorry 18 yeah, which is so weird. Yeah, we were there. What one July? Okay, so we were There it was so hot that summer remember so anyways a 28 year old man named Gene Evan Atkins is Living with his 17-year-old girlfriend

at his 78-year-old grandma's house. And grandma's name is Mary Madison, which is a cute name, I think. Anyway, so Jean had been living with his grandma Mary's since he was seven years old, but as he grew up and decided to bring his young girlfriend over to crash as well, tensions between the grandma and grandson

Rose. Jean had recently lost his job and two cars and he had told people that he assumed he was going to die or go to jail soon. Which he's only 28 years old. So needless to say, he had no hope for himself. Life was not going well for him and the tension between him and his grandma was getting worse. According to Gene's cousin, Gene had actually previously slashed the tires on his grandmother's car and broke the windows in the house, which he lived in and had been

living in since he was seven years old because of the fighting that was going on between grandma and grandson. Okay. Um, the, the, this specific Saturday, July 21st, um, in sunny Los Angeles, Jean and grandma Mary were in an argument about Jean's young girlfriend living at her house. So keep in mind the girlfriend's 17. Yep. So them dating is technically illegal, and grandma Mary no longer wants girlfriend to live there. That's kind of crazy. She was just living at the house. Yeah. She. So Grandma Mary says, go get a job. Like you're just sitting in your room with a 17-year-old girl, your 28, go get a job, go do something with your life. And they, the tensions have just

basically hit breaking point. Around 1.30 p.m. on July 21st as the fight escalated. Jean grabbed a gun that he had been keeping under his pillow in his bedroom and shot both his grandma, Mary, and his underage girlfriend. What? Yes, we will not be saying her name because she was a minor at the time of the incident and chooses not to be identified. After shooting both the women in his life, Jean eventually moves his girlfriend into his grandma's car, leaving Grandma Mary there to die after putting seven bullets into her. What in the world?

He immediately left the scene with his injured girlfriend as several neighbors had immediately called the police at the sounds of the gunshots. So they're fighting. He shoots both his grandma and his girlfriend and at the sound of the gunshots the neighbors immediately call police. So he I mean the police are already on their way. Yeah. After a while he gets his injured girlfriend into his grandma's car and they take off. LAPD had already been dispatched to the home before Jean could leave. So when he does pull away, it's not long before he's found. LAPD had dispatched a helicopter to spot him.

They quickly do because they know what kind of car grandma drives because neighbors saw him leave in the car and responding officers catch up pretty quickly. Jean, who had just shot the most important people in his life, was not in the mindset to pull over and surrender to police. So a police chase quickly ensues between Jean and the LAPD. In downtown Los Angeles, on a Saturday in the middle of summer. So imagine how busy this is as this police chase is going down.

So I can't believe he just shot his grandma who's been taking care of him for. Yeah, I still can't believe we didn't hear about a police chase going on in LA while we were living there. I know. So if you are watching on YouTube right now, we will be inserting footage from the dash cams of the police cars of this police chase and also of the media so you can see exactly what I'm talking about.

I guess it's 2018. Yeah. It's already broadcast. Like as soon as there's police chase, all the media is there. There's helicopters with cameras, everything's going. So the chase lasts nearly 15 minutes weaving recklessly in and out of traffic, putting many lives in danger. In the middle of the chase, Jean tries to carjack a family at a gas station

that was just visiting the area. What? But the family couldn't find the keys to give to Jean, so he just hops back in his own car as the sirens are getting closer. Around 3.30 pm, out of control, Jean Atkins, who was shooting out the back windshield at cops during this chase, crashes his grandma Mary's Toyota into a power pole in the city of

Silver Lake. How many shots did he have? Did he keep reloading it? I don't think he was shooting out a ton. It was right before he crashed that he turned around and started shooting out the back. You got it. This power pole that he crashes into is right in front of a Trader Joe's supermarket.

And this supermarket is on Hyperion Avenue if anyone lives in LA and wants to know. Police surround the crashed car, obviously. Think of it, it's just like the movies. He's been chasing, he crashes, police surround, and get out, draw their guns, right? Okay. And this is all happening at the kind of

at the corner of an intersection. So traffic has stopped. Because like I said, we are in LA on a Saturday in the middle of summer. People are outside, everyone's stunned, like what the heck is going on. And there's a brief moment of silence before the chaos ensues because he crashes.

And then everyone's like, is he getting out? Is he staying in? Do police go forward? Do they get him out? brief moment of silence before the chaos ensues because he crashes and then everyone's like, is he getting out? Is he staying in? Do police go forward? Do they get him out? You know, because they can they assume that he's armed and dangerous. Yes, he's been shooting out of his back window. So after a brief moment, Jean opens his driver's side door and jumps out of the blue Toyota. His girlfriend still injured stays inside. Jean is holding the handgun that he used on his grandma and his girlfriend in his hand. And when he gets out of the car, he immediately turns towards police and fires.

As he is shooting, yes, he is running towards the entrance of the Trader Joe. So he has his arm out, he's shooting and running at the same time towards to get inside. To get inside Trader Joe's. So he go and the Trader Joe's is the front door is right by where he crashed. So now it is Saturday in LA, there are at least 40 to 50 people inside the Trader Joe's at the time of this incident. The cops can't just shoot back because they might hit someone. So this is problematic in this story

because on the body cam footage, you hear cops saying, don't shoot, don't shoot, don't shoot back, like it's not a clear scene. Cops do fire back. Oh, yeah. So this will get into that a little bit later. So as Jean is running, police are firing back. Inside the Trader Joe's store was a bunch of random

strangers who all happened to be there on that Saturday at the exact moment. They are all peacefully doing their shopping, getting whatever it was that drew them there, when everyone hears a loud screeching sound followed by a crash. Confused and alarmed, everyone stands there, but to their horror, the screech is quickly followed up by gunshots. Now, as you can imagine, it takes roughly two to three seconds depending on the person for panic to set in. People scream, people drop to the ground, people take off running, everyone is confused and everyone is scared. I think we all are very, you know, sadly aware of public mass shootings

and have heard of situations where there was an active shooter in a school, a movie theater, a concert, et cetera. I'm sad to say that this, you know, reality is devastating, but it ran through most likely everyone's heads in this Trader Joe store this day, that this could really be happening right now. None of them know what's going on. Seconds after the first gunfire, people in the store start yelling to get down.

The gunshots were getting louder and eventually someone yells out, the gunman is in the store. These were real people in this store who suddenly found themselves a bunch of strangers, all living separate lives just seconds earlier, but now we're going through the same terror together. Because how would you know that it was someone that had a cop for chasing? Yeah, no idea. No idea what's going on.

All you hear is gunshots and then someone yelling he's in the store. The gun, he's in the store. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads unsure of which direction to take in life? We all face those moments of uncertainty where the right path seems elusive. But guess what, there's a solution that can help you find clarity and confidence. And that's therapy. As you guys know, I talk about therapy all the time. I go to therapy weekly. I definitely am a big supporter of it. It's helped me manage my stress and anxiety and really helped me work through difficult times.

Therapy is not just for major traumas, it's for anyone who wants to learn positive coping skills, set healthy boundaries, and become the best version of themselves. It's about staying connected to what truly matters, as you navigate life's challenges. Here's how it works, simply fill out a brief questionnaire and better help will match you with a licensed therapist who meets your specific needs. And if you ever feel they need to switch therapist, you can do so at no additional charge. That therapy be your map to a better life. Visit betterhelp.com slash husband today and get 10% off your first month.

That's better help, help.com slash husband. Jumping into an ad and it is native. I use their body wash. I use their shampoo. We use their sunscreen, everything. Or deodorant. We are big native fans over here. And the funny thing is is I caught myself wanting

to buy native products at stores. And then I was like, why am I doing that? Murder with my husband literally has a code. You can use promo code husband and get money off your native purchases, so go do it. Native sunscreen offers a quickly absorbing ultra-shear and lightweight formula that hydrates your skin while providing broad spectrum SPF 30 protection

from harmful UVA and UVB rays. And Native sunscreen offers three delightful scents, coconut and pineapple, rosé, and sweet peach and nectar. They're also for your face and body, I use them every day. But if you prefer unscented, they've got you covered too. Give your skin the protection it deserves with Native's mineral sunscreens. Go to nativedo.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout to get 20% off your

first order. That's native deo.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout to get 20% off your first order. That's native.deo.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout. native.deo.com slash husband and use promo code husband. Okay, you guys, we are getting into an ad. I know you guys have both heard the story about how Garrett and I were both paying separately for peacock and then we used rocket money

and realized how dumb we are and our so happy rocket money helped us stop doing that. Rocket money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending and helps you lower your bills all in one place. And like Payton said, I'm always on it, checking things out, seeing what's going on,

seeing how many Amazon packages Payton are buying. Is that how you find out about my Amazon packages? No, I just get emails. Oh my email is on the account. Over 3 million people have already used rocket money, saving the average person of the $720 a year. Imagine what you could do with that extra cash and your pocket.

Stop throwing your money away. Cancel unwanted subscriptions and manager expenses the easy way by going to rocketmoney.com slash husband. That's rocketmoney.com slash husband. Rocket money.com slash husband. So some of these innocent people this day at Trader Joe's was a woman named Lynn West of Fur who is a promotions producer for CBS. Another young lady named Arda Jean Balage who is a student and a model, a man named Corey Page who is an environmental associate for the

Walt Disney Company, and a woman named Mary Linda Moss who is an art consultant. Now Mary Linda found herself standing in between two counters right at the front of the store when the gunman ran inside. She can see him, and she's exposed to the counters are low, so she's standing there. She's kind of ducked down, but he can see her How many shots this guy have left though? That's what I was trying to figure out like Well, he just runs in with a gun. Yeah, I know, but he was he shot out of the car and then he shot going in the trader Joe Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. So Lynn was in the back of the store She could not see the gunman, but she could hear the commotion going on up front.

She's scared for her life. She's frozen. Arda is standing next to Lynn, and she takes out her phone and starts taking pictures of the surroundings and everything that's happening in hopes of documenting or helping in the aftermath, which I don't think we think a lot of, but in the moment, she's like, well, if something's going on, at least I could help. And so she does this. And we will upload the pictures that she's taking at the time. All this is going on.

Cory, who is also towards the back of the store, has found himself shoved into a closet that has a glass door, but at least it's a room it's covering. And he's crammed in there with 21 other people. And this closet is small. Yes, so they are body to body crammed in there. He also pulls his phone out and is taking pictures. We will also load on social media. Corey, along with everyone in the closet, know that they are sitting ducks in there,

but what are they going to do? You know, like they just found a place of safety. Yeah. They don't know where the gunman is, and I think people naturally feel safety in numbers, so because there's 21 of them in there, none of them move. None of them decide to leave.

Back up front with Mary Linda, who is in vision with the gunmen, she notices that the gunmen's left arm is severely injured and bleeding. He was shot in the left arm. Oh, okay. He is holding the hand gun in his right hand, but he's not actively shooting. Lynn, who had left her phone in the car, is desperate as everyone around her begins texting their loved ones on their own phones and making phone calls. Oh man, that's so sad. Yeah.

Sending out their final I love use just in case, they don't know what's going to happen in here. And this is when the shooter yells for the first time for everyone to get off their phones because he can hear people talking on the phone. Outside of the store, police are now lining up as you can imagine. We've all seen footage like this And we will upload the footage of this exact situation. It's so crazy kids. There's only a couple years ago. There's all this footage

Yeah, so media has now arrived. They were already following the chase. They're now there You know, this is a hostage situation. It's a frenzy outside police clearing the road getting cars out of the way First responders are pulling jeans cars out of the way. First responders are polling Jeanne's girlfriend out of the crashed car and bringing her into the hospital. Live footage from outside the Trader Joe's is now being broadcast on every channel. Which is how, why, how did we not hear about this?

I don't know, I don't know. I wonder if it was on TV and we just, we didn't really watch like cable back then. I don't even think we had cable. But still we would have heard about it. I don't know. I don't know. I wonder if it was on TV and we just we didn't really watch like cable back then. I don't even think we had cable. But still we would have heard about it on Twitter on some sort of social media. I don't know. Maybe we were maybe we were just not aware on July 21st. Apparently. So anyways back in the store, Mary Linda can see the shooter checking out the door as the police had lined up. And so I'm going to explain if you're not watching on YouTube and can't see the footage. The doors to Trader Joe's are like the automatic opening doors that open from the middle and

slide open and there's two. So you walk in one and then you walk in another and Mary Linda can see that the shooter is peeking his head around to look out those doors, but they're not opening because he's not close enough. She can tell that he's weak and is frightened when he turns around and makes eye contact with her. And for the first time, he speaks. He demands that Mary Linda come over to him and massage his hand because it's hurt from the bullets.

Weird. I was gonna say, I don't expect that he went in there with intention to kill people. I could be wrong. He just wanted safety, but I think he's just trying to still escape somehow. Yes. Yes. Yes. So uncomfortable, but just trying to stay alive. Mary Linda walks over and does it. She begins massaging the hand of this random guy who just shot at police and walked in here. She has no idea that he's shot his grandma seven times before this that his girlfriend is injured shot and being pulled out of the car

outside. She has no idea. So while that's happening, the gunman is making phone calls on his own phone because he has a cell phone. And he discovers that his grandma so far is still alive that the police got there right after he left and they rushed her to the hospital. He shot her seven times and she's still alive. At this point, still alive. I would have guessed that the girlfriend is alive. She's still alive too, because they're... The grandma? There's no way I would have guessed that.

Yeah, so go grandma Mary, like seven bullets and she's still alive. How old is she? Do you know? 78. Holy crap. Yeah, so Mary Linda says that after this news of the grandma still being alive,

the shooter who she is massaging starts going into what she believes is shock. She's not like a professional, but he he begins shivering, he's sweating, he's not talking, he's just staring blankly. And Mary Linda asks him, you know, do you want me to go get you a jacket from the store for you? Because he's shiveringivering because he's bleeding out like his wound is bad. And he says, sure, on her way to go get the jacket, Mary Linda passes a desk and she sees a woman lying on the floor behind the manager's desk. That's what she passes the manager's desk. And when she walks by her, at first she thinks this woman is just taking cover like down on the floor But as she walks by her Mary-Linda notices that the girl doesn't acknowledge her. She doesn't even move. She's just laying there

So she gets the jacket and on her way back looks closer and notices that there's a pool of blood around the girl It was one of the bolts from the cops, huh? What you just are on top of this? I would assume that's what it was. So she's like, oh my gosh, like I think that girl's hurt. And so when she returns to the gunman, she tells him, there's a girl on the floor over there. And calmly asks him, can we look into trying to get help for her because she looks like

she's not doing well? And the shooter replies to her, that was the cop that shot her, not me. And Mary Linda says, that's okay. She still needs help. And I think we should get her help. So can we take her outside? Yeah. And the gunman says, okay, fine, take her outside.

Oh wow. So a traitor Joe's employee brings the injured woman outside, carries her to the now like militant defense that's waiting. I mean they've got like what are those carcades? They've got huge big you know the SWAT team is there. Yeah and you can actually we will upload this footage but you can see this footage of him taking her out of those sliding doors because it's the first time those have opened now since since Jean has gone in there and taken these people hostage.

So once in safety, it's discovered that the woman's name was Melita Carrotto, and she went by Mellie, and she was the store manager in only 27 years old. She had actually run outside after the immediate sound of the crash. Eager to help. Thinking there was a car crash outside that sounded bad. It sounded right by it was our building. I'm the manager of this store. She

dashes out the doors because she's right up by the front. And devastatingly, she didn't know that she would be running right into the crossfire between Jean and LAPD by the time Jean got out of his car. She was running out to help and he was running in so they cross pass. So She got shot but that she ran back inside the store. Did she not realize she was shot? She did, but I think she ran in the store trying to get back out of the gunfire. Imagine she runs out There's gunfire all the sudden that she runs right into the gunfire starts as she's running out and he's running in. She gets hit, turns around,

runs back in the store thinking, I don't know what's going on out there, but I just got hit. Where was she hit at? In the chest. Oh, no. And she had been hit by a bullet during what she thought was a dash. She was running out to go help someone who she thinks just crashed the car. So think about that. She was going out to help someone and got hit in return and had to run back inside to take cover. So back inside of the store, the gunman's phone rings. And it's finally the police trying to make contact with him because it's the hostage situation. And that's what they do. So they finally get his number.

They figure out who he is, what had happened. Get his number, call him. They tell Jean that his girlfriend is also still alive, that they pulled her out and she is also still alive. He's got to be freaking out. And they said the bullet only grazed her head. So it was like, you could see her skull, but it didn't go in her skull. It's hotter in the head.

Yeah. And it just graaced her head. And so she was going into surgery right now. And Gene replies by telling cops, you know, if you let me talk to my girlfriend on the phone, I will surrender. Like I will come out. Okay. And he hangs up the phone and says out loud, how many people are in this store?

All of you come up here now. That's what he yells in the store. Because he, you have to think this is a big story. And people are in this store? All of you come up here now. That's what he yells in the store. Because you have to think, this is a big store, and people are being quiet now. So he doesn't even know how many people are in the store. So I guess my next question is, I assume there's an exit in the back. Were people running out, the exit in the back? Yeah, no one ran out. Okay.

That was back there. And I don't know if it's because they were just too scared to move. At first, yes, like in the footage, you can see that as he's running in to the store and all that, you know, because we have the body cam footage from the cops, people are people do make it out of trader Joe's. Yeah. But not everyone.

So as people start making their way up to the front, because he walks around in demands that people are coming up. So one by one, 13 people are found by him and brought up in a single file line with their hands in the air to the front of the store. So he kind of makes a little bit of a round to try to gather up who he thinks is in the store and he finds 13 people hiding and brings them up front. Because at this point, I think he thinks I actually have to take people hostage. Or else I'm not gonna get my way.

I'm not gonna get out of this. It's gone too far. So as they make their way up, people notice that there are abandoned purses, knocked over shelves, full grocery carts, just abandoned in the aisles as people ran out when all of this happened. So imagine just the destruction

that they're like walking up to the front of the store to see. And also they noticed that there's so much blood because his wound was bleeding that bad. Both Lynn and Arda are part of the 13 hostages who had now been discovered and moved up to the front of the store. They are so confused when they get up to the front of the store and they see Mary Linda massaging the gunman. That's right. What the heck? What's going on? The gunman is wearing a sweatshirt with his hood up during this hot summer.

Like I said, remember how hot that summer was? Like July was just, they broke records in California and he's wearing a full-on hoodie with his hood on. And the gunman tells the hostages that they have nothing to do with this and he really doesn't want anyone else to get hurt. Oh, wow. When you download the Kroger app, you have easy access to savings every day.

Shop weekly sales and get personalized coupons to get the most value out of every trip every time, whether you shop in-store or online. Download the Kroger app now to save big. Kroger, fresh for everyone, must have a digital account to redeem offers. Restrictions may apply, see site for details. Save big on your favorites with the Buy, Fiver more, save a dollar each sale. Simply buy five or more participating items and save a dollar each with your card. Kroger, fresh for everyone. So, Mary Linda begins telling the gunman, you know, I think you have a good heart and I

know you don't want to hurt anyone. And the other survivors are confused about why she's interacting with him, why she's talking to him. But they are later grateful for this act of kindness because they realized that she was helping to ground him to deescalate the situation off the edge. Yes, to save them, to make it so that he doesn't just go haywire and begin shooting them. And Gene tells all of them that if, you know, they don't know what he had done this morning. So they're like, you're a good, well, Maryland is like, you're a good man.

You have a good heart. And he says to her, you don't know what I did this morning. Thinking, I shot my grandma seven times. I had my girlfriend and then led the police on a chase. And now I'm holding you guys hostage in here. Yeah. And she says, it doesn't matter. You have a good heart. Whatever happened this morning, doesn't matter now. You get to choose now. How to act. And at this point, Jean decides after some persuasion to let someone go, like a hostage go, he's gonna let someone leave the store. And they decide that it's going to be a 13 year old boy who's released.

And the footage of this is pretty crazy. Like I said, you see the boy walk out and then the police are like, because the police don't know what's going on and then they grab him, you know, but he walks out to guns, just everywhere. I'm sure it's just insane. And Corey, who's still in the back in this closet with everyone hiding because they weren't

found, and they are all getting antsy back there. Can you imagine there's 21 people shoved in like a utility closet, this tight, and now it's been a while that they've been in there. And everyone up front is just praying and waiting for this girlfriend to call so that they've been in there. And everyone up front is just praying and waiting for this girlfriend to call so that they can escape. It had been an hour. And she hasn't, they haven't. They haven't had the girlfriend call yet. What were they doing? I mean, she's, okay, keep mind she's a bullet through her head. So I don't know, I don't know what's taking so long, but like I said later on, this does become a question, so it's not bad that you're asking that. And you have to keep in mind, like everyone's quiet, right? Like everyone's in here.

But at the same time, the store's music is playing because the store didn't just stop playing music. So they're all just sitting here and then their like Stevie Wonder comes on and then Fergie comes on. And like this music's just playing as this horrific thing is going on. So one by one Jean decides to let hostages go. In the middle of one woman leaving, Jean decides that he doesn't want her to leave right when she gets to the door. So he's, I guess, you can go and as she gets the sliding doors, the door is open and he says stop, don't go. And after a couple of seconds of like the door's opening and opening because she's just standing there,

the woman just, the woman just darts out anyways. She just runs out anyways, like she's this close. And this is when Jean asks the employee to lock the front doors, he gets mad. I'm no longer letting any of you leave. Why would she have left? I told her not to leave. None of you are leaving now.

And so this, I'm saying this because this goes to the mental state. He's not making sense. He's just a mess. Nothing he is doing is making sense. They're just trying to make it so he doesn't get mad. At this point, the SWAT team has set up snipers around the building on other buildings. And Gene looks through the window and spots a sniper

across the street, like sitting up on the building. And he's on the phone with cops and he begins freaking out. Why is that guy have a gun? Why is that guy up there on the building? So everyone, all the hostages begin yelling at the police through Jean's phone, take that guy off the roof, take that guy off the roof. Like, if he gets mad, we're the ones in here with the gun.

Like, take him off the roof. Why are you he gets mad, we're the ones in here with the gun. Like, take him off the roof. Why are you guys doing that? Don't make him mad. And Jean, they don't. The guy doesn't move. And so Jean goes, I'm counting down from five. And if that guy is in move,

I'm killing someone in here. So he goes, five, four, three, two. And at two, someone taps, someone comes up on the roof, taps the sniper and they move. Oh my god. So everyone in the store is like, was his walkie talkie broken? Like was his earpiece not working?

Why did it take someone having to run up there and get him? And they're like, this is real, this is happening. Like we could have almost, one of us could have just died. So Jean, after noticing the SWAT truck and realizing that this wasn't going to end good for him. Like he's now seen the sniper, he's seen the swap truck like it's bad. He asks the police on the phone to send in some handcuffs so that he can handcuff himself and walk out because he feels like if he's handcuffed, they won't shoot him.

He won't shoot him. So he doesn't want to die. He's obviously... No, that... The whole reason he's hold up is he wants to leave a life. He wants to live. Okay. The traitor Joe's employee unlocks the door

And a customer stands in the door waiting for them to throw the handcuffs in They're like okay, we have the handcuffs the customer opened like stands in the open doorway waiting for them to throw it in But once this trader Joe's employee gets at the door Police who are waiting behind barricades start going come on come on come out and he's like, no, throw the handcuffs in. Like, we all are waiting to get out. I'm not gonna just run out. You don't get it.

So instead of throwing the handcuffs in and letting this guy do what he said he's gonna do, they're just trying to sneak more hostages out. They're like, oh, the doors are open, come on, come out. And the trade of journalism play goes, I'm not leaving them in there. Give me the handcuffs, we'm not leaving them in there. Give me the handcuffs. We're not leaving them in there.

And so it literally takes like so long in the footage and then finally they throw the handcuffs in at him. What in the world? I'm so confused. Yes. So I think police didn't want to give the handcuffs worried that instead of using them on himself, he might handcuff himself to a hostage and then come out, which is more dangerous for them.

How much worse could it get? Yeah, how much worse could it get? And so Jean, after the handcuffs come in, Jean tells Mary Linda that his life is over. He's like looking, he's like, look at the situation. My life is over. I have no hope. And she tells him, they're all just sitting

here. All these hostages are sitting here on the floor. Marylinda tells him, you know, I know people who are in prison who have made lives for themselves on the inside. Your life is not over. You can make a life for yourself. You can turn this around. And he looks at her and says, I wish I had just met you a little earlier. I really just needed someone to talk to. So essentially Mary Maryland is just telling him, you know, your life isn't over. And right after this conversation, a recorded message comes in through the phone

from Jean's girlfriend. And she's saying, I'm okay, you need to go outside. I'm okay, you need to go outside. She repeats it like five times. And that's all, that's all he gets. And right after that phone call, I think that was the relief that Jean needed. And so, Jean begins releasing the hostages. Like, one by one, okay, you can go, okay, you can go, he's going to let them all go before he goes, because it's going to be dangerous if they all go out together, right? And I'm sure the cops are like, you can't all come out together.

So Mary Linda takes the gun from him and handcuffs Jean, yeah. And Jean's like, I think they're still gonna kill me. Like I'm scared, he was scared. He was telling Mary Linda, I'm scared to go out, I'm scared to go out, I can't do this. And she's like, okay, well, I will walk out with you. She looks like back to the two other hostages

who are left who haven't walked out and says, are you guys willing to walk out with us? And they're like, yeah, yeah, we'll walk out with you. So she goes, you're not gonna go out alone, they're not gonna shoot us. And so- Well, I'm sure now that he doesn't have the gun anymore, they feel-

Way better. And so they're like, we will walk out in front of you. We will make a like a little barricade around you and we will all walk out together and it's going to be fine. You're not going to die. And so with that, they make a little barricade and they walk out together and you can see the footage on our YouTube and he surrenders without a fight. They pull the, they pull the hostages away. They grab him. They arrest him. There's no gunshots. It goes down smooth.

And it would be 15 more minutes before the SWAT team finds the 21 people in the closet who still have no idea that the gunman has left. They're still in there. Holy crap. And they release them. So three hours, Jean and everyone was in that trade or dress. Three hours. So what happened to the girl that got shot in there, the manager, I assume she's okay. Yeah, so the next day, July 22nd, 2018, a memorial is held for Mellie, the manager.

Wait, she died? She had died right after she was taken outside. No way. And it was in fact a police bullet that hit her. Well, that's so sad. Um, Jean Atkins, age 29, would be charged with her death. Um, first setting the events in motion, the police wouldn't have fired if he wouldn't have gotten out and fired at them.

Of course. And he was charged with 51 felony counts, including attempted murder and kidnapping. And he would go on to plead not guilty and will go to trial he hasn't gone to trial yet. Grandma Mary survived the seven shots after going to the hospital and the hostage hostages from that day still get together regularly in hopes to heal and bond. So essentially these strangers who happened to be at Trader Joe's that Saturday at the same time all went in living separate lives not knowing each other and all came out, now friends, now getting together regularly to talk about this, to heal and to bond over

those three hours that they spent in there with Gene in the Trader Joe's. And that's it. That's the Trader Joe's tragedy from 2018. Oh, I'm so sad that that one girl died. I thought everyone was gonna live. So yeah, I just think it's insane that we never heard about this while we were living right there.

But she could get such a big deal. It was a three hours a standoff. People swap brought in like, we had to have heard about this, but I don't know. I literally don't remember it, but that was also a while ago. So crazy. If you wanna see any of the imagery media videos

that go along with this story, there is a lot. You can watch on YouTube. We just insert it right into the video, so it's an awesome way to hear the story as well as see. And if not, we will be uploading some of the media onto our personal social media. It's murder with my husband on everything. A reminder about Patreon.

We have a new episode coming out this month, a bonus one for only people who Patreon. So please check that out. We love you guys so much. Thank you for being here and we will see you next week with another episode. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye. I hate it. Goodbye. Don't you see it? Free days are now the coolest days. In this summer's hottest blockbuster, guaranteed to keep you cool. The savings are coming from inside the house!

Open it summer path, energy savings are developed so cool. FQ energy, energy for everything. Tap the banner now to learn more.