Stop & Shop Gunman Found Guilty of Deadly Shooting in 2021
A former Stop & Shop employee who shot three workers at the supermarket chain’s location in Long Island, N.Y., in April 2021, killing a manager, was found guilty of the deadly crime on May 3.
According to NBC New York, Gabriel DeWitt Wilson was found guilty on seven of nine counts, including on a second-degree murder charge in connection with the fatal shooting inside the 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.
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Wilson, who at the time was 31 years old, entered the supermarket on the morning of April 20, wearing all black, and headed upstairs to the manager’s office. Prosecutors said that Wilson walked into the office and shot two people before fatally shooting Ray Wishropp as he ate lunch.
The gunman had employment ties to Stop & Shop, but it wasn’t clear if he was a current or former employee at the West Hempstead location, investigators said following the shooting. He reportedly worked in front of the store and moved shopping carts.
Law enforcement sources said that it appeared to have been a work-related dispute. Wilson didn’t deny that he had asked a manager for a transfer to a store closer to his home and then that he had returned to the store with a gun.
A few hundred shoppers were said to have been in the supermarket at the time of the shooting.
Stop & Shop released a statement saying in part, "Our thanks to the Nassau County Police Department for its swift and heroic actions two years ago that led to the arrest of Mr. Wilson and to the Nassau County District Attorney, whose case was presented to the jury for determination. Our hearts remain with the family of the late Mr. Wishropp and our colleagues who survived the attack."
Wilson’s mother said that her son suffers from a traumatic brain injury and didn’t have the mental capacity to stand trial. She plans to appeal the verdict. Sources told NBC News that Wilson was previously arrested in Reisterstown, Md., where he used to live, for assault in 2006 and on gun charges.
Wilson’s sentencing will take place June 8.
Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC is an Ahold Delhaize USA company that operates more than 400 stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of Zaandam, Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize, is No. 10 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Its brands are Food Lion, FreshDirect, The Giant Co., Giant Food, Hannaford, Stop & Shop, Peapod, and Retail Business Services.
