Man who killed manager, shot colleagues at Long Island supermarket gets 50 years to life in prison
Jun 8, 2023, 2:52 PM
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A shopping cart collector who killed a manager and wounded two workers at a Long Island grocery store in 2021 was sentenced Thursday to 50 years to life in prison.
Gabriel DeWitt Wilson, 33, was convicted last month of murder and attempted murder in the shooting at the Stop & Shop store in West Hempstead.
Police said Wilson, a “troubled employee” who had been reprimanded for threatening and sexually harassing colleagues, opened fire in an office about 40 minutes after talking to a supervisor about transferring to another store.
The slain manager, Ray Wishropp, was shot in the chest at point-blank range, police said.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Wilson has show no contrition or remorse and that she hopes his long prison sentence “provides some measure of justice for (Wishropp’s) family, friends, and coworkers still mourning his tragic loss.”
Wilson fled the store after the shooting and was arrested about four hours later at an apartment building about 2 miles (3 kilometers) away in Hempstead. The area is about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of midtown Manhattan.
Wilson’s lawyer said he was suffering the “lingering effects” of being shot in the head when he was 19.
Wilson was involved in a gun battle in Baltimore seven years to the day before the supermarket shooting that left him and another man wounded.
He has also been taken into custody at least twice in Nassau County for mental health evaluations, in 2016 and 2019, authorities said.
