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Police: Long Island store shooter arrested two miles from grocery store

Grocery Store Shooting
Posted at 7:42 PM, Apr 21, 2021
and last updated 2021-04-21 19:42:00-04

Police say a man who killed a manager and wounded two workers Tuesday at a Long Island grocery store was a "troubled employee" who'd been reprimanded in recent months for threatening and sexually harassing colleagues.

Police say Gabriel DeWitt Wilson, a shopping cart collector at Stop & Shop in West Hempstead, opened fire in an office area above the retail floor about 40 minutes after talking to a manager about transferring to another store.

According to The Associated Press, Wilson came into the grocery store around 11:15 a.m. armed with a .380 semiautomatic pistol and headed straight to the offices and fired seven shots, killing manager Ray Wishropp, 49, and shooting a 50-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman in the shoulder.

Both shooting victims were transported to a local hospital and were alert and talking to investigators.

The AP reported that the 50-year-old man, whom Wilson spoke to about transferring, was shot three times and grazed in the cheek with a bullet.

According to The AP, the conversation between Wilson and the 50-year-old lasted but a minute or so and wasn't confrontational.

Two women, both 47, were also targeted but were not shot, The AP reported.

The AP reported that Wilson was arrested four hours after the shooting at an apartment complex about two miles from the grocery store.

Wilson was arraigned Wednesday on homicide and attempted murder charges and ordered jailed without bail.

If convicted, he could face up to 25 years to life in prison.

His lawyer said he's still suffering the "lingering effects" of being shot in the head when he was 19.