MINEOLA, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — A Long Island grocery store worker who police said opened fire on fellow employees, killing a manager, has been arraigned on murder and attempted murder charges.
On Tuesday morning, Gabriel DeWitt Wilson, 31, met with his manager at the Stop & Shop on Cherry Valley Avenue in West Hempstead, seeking a transfer to a store in Hempstead.
The conversation with the manager lasted about two minutes and was nonconfrontational, authorities said.
Wilson left the building, but police said he returned about 40 minutes later with a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun and fired seven shots at five individuals inside a second floor office, killing 49-year-old manager Ray Wishropp, a father of two from Valley Stream.
A 50-year-old man from Bethpage was shot in the face and shoulder. A 26-year-old woman from Bay Shore was also shot in the shoulder. Both victims are recovering at area hospitals.
Two 47-year-old women were not hurt.
After the shooting, Wilson fled the store on foot and was later tracked down at an apartment building, located at 100 Terrace Ave. in Hempstead, where he was apprehended by authorities after trying to flee through the first floor.
"He was trapped like a mouse in a trap by the fact of Hempstead Police locking and shutting one door as he was going in that direction and the Bureau of Special Operations team coming from behind which was able to then get him in control and arrested," a police official said.
No one was injured during the apprehension of the suspect.
"It's truly remarkable that the arrest of an armed suspect who was inside an apartment building that was full of civilians was taken down, arrested without incident, without further violence," the Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said.
The handgun has not yet been recovered. Investigators are retracing Wilson's steps to find the weapon.
Police officers gather outside a Stop & Shop grocery store where a shooting took place in West Hempstead, New York, the United States, on April 20, 2021.Xinhua/Sipa USA
Police said Wilson has an arrest history dating back to 2006 in Baltimore, Maryland, where he lived before moving to New York.
He was charged with assault in July 2006 and was arrested again in May 2011 on drug charges. On April 21, 2014, police said he was charged with attempted murder and possession of a firearm after he was shot in the head during a gun battle. In 2016 and 2019, police responded to mental health crisis calls involving Wilson in Roosevelt and Long Beach.
He had no arrest history in New York.
Wilson has worked at the Stop & Shop in West Hempstead for two years as a shopping cart collector. Prior to that he worked at the Stop & Shop in Long Beach for two years.
Police said in the months prior to Tuesday's incident, Wilson had been called into the manager's office on several occasions after he was accused of making unwanted advances toward female workers and threatening other workers.
Wilson was arraigned Wednesday morning on one count of second-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder. He was remanded and is due back in court on Friday.
If convicted of the top count, Wilson faces 25 years to life in prison.
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