A “troubled employee” who killed a supermarket manager and injured two colleagues asked to be transferred from his Long Island store 40 minutes before opening fire, police said Wednesday.
But it was still not immediately clear what might have prompted 31-year-old suspect Gabriel DeWitt Wilson to take deadly action at a Stop & Shop full of customers in West Hempstead, according to Nassau County police.
Valley Stream manager Ray Wishropp, 49, was fatally shot with a .387-caliber semi-automatic pistol, authorities said.
Wilson fired seven shots at five people, hitting Wishropp, a 50-year-old man from Bethpage and a 26-year-old woman from Bayshore, officials said. The injured man was scraped on the cheek and hit twice in the shoulder. The woman was hit in the shoulder once, police said.
Before gunfire broke out in the manager’s office on the second floor, Wilson had been at that same location to be transferred to another Stop & Shop location in Hempstead, Nassau County Police Det. Said Lieutenant Stephen Fitzpatrick.
“It wasn’t confrontational then,” Fitzpatrick told reporters on Wednesday. He left the building without violence or something else was said. Forty minutes later he returned to the building and you know the rest. He walked straight to the offices and opened fire on five people. ”
There was apparently no indication that Wilson’s transfer request was in dispute or would be rejected.
“He was told (Hempstead’s) manager to call him (West Hempstead’s managers),” said Fitzpatrick. “He (Wilson) would have to fill out a form and it would. It went smoothly.”
Wilson, who worked as a shopping cart collector, had ongoing problems with his colleagues and had been dragged to meetings with managers on a number of occasions, police said.
“Gabriel was a troubled employee and in the months leading up to this incident he made unwelcome advances towards women working there,” said Fitzpatrick. “He had disputes with other employees and threatened them and was brought to the management office several times.”
Representatives of trade unions representing the employees of that Stop & Shop could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.
The suspect was caught in a nearby apartment building on Terrance Avenue in Hempstead. The gun used in Tuesday’s shooting was not immediately found.
“ Detectives are now on their way to retrace his steps to … find the gun, ” Fitzpatrick said
Wilson was charged with manslaughter and attempted murder, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said. If convicted of all charges, he could spend 25 years to life in prison, according to the prosecutor.
An innocent plea was filed on his behalf during an arraignment on Wednesday, NBC New York reported. His next appearance in court is scheduled for Friday, according to the news channel.
The store is expected to remain closed until Sunday morning as the police continue their investigation there.
