He escapes the Trader Joe's shooting, then stays to help others survive

A suspect is arrested after evading police and holding dozens of people hostage inside a Trader Joe's supermarket in Los Angeles. Photo / AP

In a crisis, look for the helpers.

Yesterday, the crisis was a hostage situation in a Trader Joe's store in Los Angeles. And the helper was Sean Garace.

Police say a man had shot his grandmother at least seven times, injured another woman and dragged her into his grandmother's car to escape. A police pursuit led him the store as he exchanged gunfire.

He barricaded himself inside the store, with some of the 40 to 50 people inside, the Los Angeles Times reported. Some fled out exits. Others hid.

Gerace, who works at the store, devised a plan.

"I was working in the backroom, heard screaming and gunfire, ran upstairs, grabbed a couple co-workers, made my way to into a back section of the storage area upstairs," Gerace told CBS2.

"I grabbed an emergency ladder, barricaded the hallway, grabbed a weapon, put the ladder out the window, and just tried to get the attention of a SWAT officer."

A video of Gerace's actions was a brief glimpse of humanity during the three-hour hostage situation: The ladder buckles and sways as he nears the bottom. The gunman could have been anywhere, but Gerace stays and steadies the ladder for at least two women who came after him.

Melyda Corado, a store manager, was killed by the gunman inside the store, authorities told the Times, though it is not clear what the circumstances were that led to her death.

The gunman was apprehended, and his grandmother was in critical condition at a hospital, the Times reported.