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Gabriel DeWitt Wilson, a 33-year-old Hempstead resident, was sentenced on Thursday, June 8 to 50 years to life behind bars for the murder of one person and the attempted murder of two others in an April 2021 Stop & Shop shooting, the Nassau County District Attorney announced.
He had previously been convicted on Wednesday, May 3.
According to the trial, Wilson, a Stop & Shop employee at the time, entered the store, located at 50 Cherry Valley Avenue in West Hempstead, on April 20, 2021.
At 11:19 a.m., Wilson went up to the second floor, where the employee offices were located, though he was not scheduled to work at the time.
Armed, he entered the store manager’s office, where he shot a victim in the face and twice in the chest, and then shot a female manager in the shoulder.
The DA’s Office reported that Wilson then entered a second office, where he fired multiple rounds, striking 49-year-old Ray Wishropp in the chest and leg.
Wishropp was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Gabriel Wilson intended to cause death and destruction when he entered a West Hempstead Stop and Shop with a semi-automatic gun on April 20, 2021,” said Nassau County DA Anne T. Donnelly, adding that Wilson “showed no contrition or remorse since he was apprehended or throughout the duration of his trial.”
The jury at his Wednesday, May 3 trial deliberated for less than six hours before finding him guilty of the following charges:
- Second-degree murder, one count
- Second-degree attempted murder, two counts
- First-degree assault, two counts
- Second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, two counts
He was acquitted of two counts of second-degree attempted murder, according to the DA’s Office.
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