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Stop & Shop shooter gets 50 years to life

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Gabriel DeWitt Wilson, here being escorted into court in 2021 wearing a while medical suit, was sentenced to 50 years to life for the murder of West Hempstead Stop & Shop manager Ray Wishropp, and the attempted murder of two other managers. Wilson worked in the store at the time, but wasn't scheduled to work on April 20, 2021, when the shooting occurred.
Gabriel DeWitt Wilson, here being escorted into court in 2021 wearing a while medical suit, was sentenced to 50 years to life for the murder of West Hempstead Stop & Shop manager Ray Wishropp, and the attempted murder of two other managers. Wilson worked in the store at the time, but wasn't scheduled to work on April 20, 2021, when the shooting occurred.
NAKEEM GRANT/Herald file

Gabriel DeWitt Wilson will spend at least the next 50 years in prison for murdering his supervisor and trying to kill two of his co-workers at the West Hempstead Stop & Shop in 2021.

The 33-year-old was convicted May 3 of second-degree murder, and attempted second-degree murder, as well as assault and criminal possession of a weapon. He was sentenced to 50 years to life.

Prosecutors say Wilson walked into the Stop & Shop grocery store at 50 Cherry Valley Ave., just after 11 a.m. on April 20, 2021. Although he wasn't scheduled to work that day, he walked up to the second floor and into the office of the store manager, shooting him once in the face, and twice in the chest.  Wilson then shot at a female manager, hitting her in the shoulder. Both survived.

He then walked into a second office where he found Ray Wishropp, 49. Wilson fired multiple rounds at Wishropp in the chest and leg. He died at the scene.

Wilson was arrested a few hours later in Hempstead by the Nassau County Police Department's special operations bureau, as well as the Hempstead Police Department.

"Gabriel Wilson intended to cause death and destruction when he entered a West Hempstead Stop & Shop with a semi-automatic gun," Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said. "Wilson methodically entered office after office on the second floor of the grocery store, shooting his co-workers without hesitation.

"This defendant showed no contrition or remorse since he was apprehended, or throughout the trial. I am very pleased that this very dangerous indidivual will now likely spend the rest of his life in a prison cell. We hope that this sentence provides some measure of justice for Ray's family, friends and co-workers still mourning his tragic loss."