The suburban New York grocery store worker who is accused of fatally shooting one of his drivers and wounding several others has reportedly had a history of harassing co-workers and acting aggressively. an hour before he opened fire, officials said Wednesday.
Gabriel DeWitt Wilson, 31, appeared before a Long Island judge on Wednesday morning to face one murder and four counts of attempted murder, Madeline Singas, a district attorney in Nassau, and police officers said at a subsequent press conference. . He was ordered without bail.
Shortly after 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, Wilson went to the driver’s office on the second floor of a West Hempstead Stop & Shop and fired his gun seven times and five different people into Nassau County police. Lieutenant Stephen Fitzpatrick said Wednesday. Three people, aged 26, 49 and 50, were injured. The 49-year-old, a man identified by police as Ray Wishropp, could not be rescued.
Gabriel DeWitt Wilson
(Nassau County PD)
“This is his workplace. He’s a shopping cart collector there,” Fitzpatrick said.
Wilson allegedly had an “inconvenient” meeting with one of his supervisors, the 50-year-old man, around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday when he asked them to switch to another store.
“Yesterday he went to talk to the manager of West Hempstead to ask what the process would be because he wanted to transfer,” Fitzpatrick said.
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Earlier in the press conference, Fitzpatrick described the meeting as ‘non-confrontational’ and lasted only one to two minutes.
“He left the building without violence or anything else being said,” he continued. “Forty minutes later he returned to the building, and you know the rest.”
Police said they had not yet recovered the 0.380-caliber semi-automatic pistol they suspected he had used during the shooting.
Fitzpatrick called Wilson an “upset employee” who is accused of making “undesirable advances toward women at work”. Colleagues also allege that he had a dispute with other workers and threatened them and that he was brought to the management office several times, Fitzpatrick said.
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Police said Wilson fled the store on foot after the shooting and was arrested hours later at an apartment building in Hempstead, New York. He tried to make a turn through the building’s first floor, but was stopped by Hempstead police officers who blocked the doors.
“He was trapped like a mouse in a trap,” said Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder.
Emergency services personnel work at the scene of a shooting at a Stop & Shop supermarket on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 in West Hempstead, NY. A gunman shot dead three workers at a management office in a Long Island grocery store. (AP Photo / Mary Altaffer)
Ryder said Wilson’s criminal history dates back to 2006 and includes assault, attempted drug distribution and a charge of attempted murder resulting from a gun battle in Baltimore in 2014, which led to Wilson being shot in the head. is, Ryder said. At the time, Wilson was also charged with criminal possession of a firearm.
Ryder added that local politicians, clergy and community members came forward with tips and offers for help during the search for Wilson.
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‘The men and women in law enforcement have [been] he has been challenging every day for a year and a half, ‘he said. In the province of Nassau, there was cooperation between the community and the police. It was the collaboration between law enforcement agencies in the province of Nassau, the 18 towns and two cities, and we all work together. ‘
Wilson is due back in court on Friday and will face up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the highest charges.