What to Know
- 1 person died and 2 were wounded after the shooting at a Long Island grocery store on the morning of April 20, 2021
- Gabriel DeWitt Wilson was taken into custody hours after the deadly shooting; he was found guilty of second degree murder and other crimes on Wednesday
- In a statement following the tragic shooting, Stop & Shop said it was “shocked and heartbroken by this act of violence that occurred at our store" and pledged its full cooperation with the investigation
The employee who shot three workers at an office inside a Long Island grocery store in 2021, killing a manager, was found guilty of the deadly crime Wednesday.
Gabriel DeWitt Wilson was found guilty on seven of nine counts, including on a second degree murder charge in connection to the deadly shooting that took place on April 20, 2021 inside a West Hempstead Stop & Shop. The victim who died was 49-year-old Ray Wishropp, a father of seven who worked as a manager at the store. Two other victims, a man and a woman, were wounded.
Following the guilty verdict, Wishropp's father said he believed his son had received justice. Other family members agreed.
"Our emotions are running high, this is some sort of closure," said cousin Alex Bernard. "A part of us is gone. Even with justice served today, it doesn't bring him back, will never replace what was here."
Bernard said there isn't enough room in their hearts to hate Wilson, because their hearts are still too full of grief.
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Wilson's mother was in court to hear the verdict and to support her son, who she said suffers from a traumatic brain injury and "didn't have his wits about him." While she plans on appealing the verdict, she did offer her condolences and prayers to Wishropp's family.
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Sentencing is scheduled to take place June 8.
Wilson, who at the time was 31 years old, entered the supermarket on the morning just over two years ago wearing all black and headed into an upstairs office.
After the deadly events unfolded, Wilson fled the scene and was on the run before being taken into custody around 3 p.m. -- after a four-hour manhunt.
At the time of his arrest, many details weren't publicly known, other than he was found apparently hiding in an apartment.
Police said at that time that witnesses reported seeing Wilson flee the area with a small handgun after the gun attack. A senior law enforcement official also said he may have hopped on a bus to NYC to escape, and was seen heading west.
Wilson had employment ties to Stop & Shop but it was not clear if he was a current or former employee at the West Hempstead location, investigators said following the shooting. Both a Stop & Shop worker and a New York uncle of Wilson told News 4 the suspect worked in front of the store and moved shopping carts.
Police officials didn't speculate at that time on a potential motive when asked about the workplace connection Tuesday. Law enforcement sources said it appeared to have been a work-related dispute, though it wasn't immediately clear if the victims were targeted specifically.
Video from the scene showed at least a dozen ambulances and police vehicles gathered outside the Cherry Valley Avenue store. A few hundred shoppers were said to have been in the supermarket at the time of the shooting.
A woman who had just pulled into the parking lot to do her shopping says she was walking in the door when people running out told her there had been a shooting.
"Everybody seemed to start running out of the store, panicked and frantic," Liz Crew-Lee told News 4 of the commotion moments after the gunfire.
Barbara Butterman, one of the hundreds of shoppers inside the store at the time, said she heard four or five shots, and then saw people running. Another man who said his mother is a manager inside the store described what others told him went down inside the store, with the man apparently trying to get his job back.
"He just came into the store, when you walk in, you make a left and there's the staircase," said Thomas Moran, whose mother was not hurt. "He went upstairs, asked for his job back, manager said no and he just pulled outa gun."
Law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation told News 4 at the time Wilson used to live in Reisterstown, Maryland, which is in Baltimore County. He was previously arrested there for assault in 2006 and gun charges, as well as a number of marijuana possession busts, sources said.
News 4 New York spoke Wilson's uncle following the shooting who described his nephew as a good kid who could be a "hothead."
