Alleged Stop & Shop shooter 'encouraged the police to shoot at him,' Nassau prosecutor says

Alleged Stop & Shop shooter Gabriel DeWitt Wilson "encouraged the police to shoot at him" as they closed in on the slaying suspect hours after an eruption of gunfire at his West Hempstead workplace in April ended a store manager's life and wounded two other employees, a Nassau prosecutor said Friday.

The supermarket cart attendant pleaded not guilty Friday to a nine-count indictment charging him with murder, attempted murder, assault and weapon charges in connection with the April 20 violence.

Wilson, 31, appeared virtually for his Nassau County Court arraignment from jail. He has been held there without bail following his arrest at a Hempstead apartment building after the 11:18 a.m. supermarket shooting sparked a manhunt.

Police arrested Wilson about four hours later, after a swarm of law enforcement officials from different agencies helped with the investigation. They zeroed in on his location at 100 Terrace Ave. using surveillance video and tips that flooded in from the community after authorities named him as a person of interest in the case.

"He was approached, as you may remember, by a large police presence. He wasn't injured but he encouraged the police to shoot at him. He said 'Go ahead, shoot me,'" prosecutor Jared Rosenblatt said after Friday's arraignment.

Wilson then cursed and again told police to shoot, before speaking in what authorities believe was Arabic, according to Rosenblatt.

Defense attorney Brian Carmody said Friday he'll most likely use a psychiatric defense for Wilson and that doctors will be examining his client. He called him "slow" and "sort of like a little boy in a big man body."

The Garden City lawyer added: "I can tell you that he was shot in the head when he was 19. He's missing 35 percent of his brain. He has an I.Q. of 61 and now he suffers from epilepsy and seizures."

Carmody also said his client is Muslim and prays in Arabic.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty called Wilson a flight risk Friday and ordered his continued remand in jail.

Law enforcement officials have alleged Wilson used a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun to shoot at five Stop & Shop co-workers, killing manager Ray Wishropp, 49, of Valley Stream, and wounding a 26-year-old Bay Shore woman and a 50-year-old Bethpage man.

Authorities said two 47-year-old female employees also were present when Wilson allegedly opened fire but were able to escape harm. Police said Wilson fired seven gunshots in all and that they recovered seven shell casings, but not the gun.

Rosenblatt also provided details Friday on the recoveries of the two people wounded in the shooting, calling them "lucky to be alive."

A bullet was removed from one of the Bethpage man's lungs days after the shooting, and he is going to physical therapy and still suffering pain after being hit multiple times by gunshots, according to Rosenblatt, Homicide Bureau chief for the Nassau District Attorney's Office. He said that victim also suffered fractures to his collar bone and a large gash across his face.

The Bay Shore woman, who suffered a broken rib from a gunshot wound, has significant nerve damage and loss of feeling on her right side, the prosecutor said. She continues to have difficulty breathing and is undergoing physical therapy, according to Rosenblatt.

The violence erupted at 50 Cherry Valley Ave. about 40 minutes after Wilson requested a transfer to a Hempstead store, according to authorities. They said the former Long Beach man fled on foot with the gun after the shooting — when dozens of shoppers were inside the store.

Wishropp, a divorced father of seven and a new grandfather whom family and neighbors described as big-hearted and easygoing, had worked in different locations of the supermarket chain for about three decades, his best friend previously told Newsday.

Local authorities have said Wilson has a history of arrests in Maryland starting in 2006, and most recently involving gun arrests in 2014 and 2016.

Nassau police also said Wilson suffered a gunshot wound in a Baltimore gun battle in April 2014. Maryland court records show authorities closed that case without going forward with Wilson's prosecution on attempted murder, assault and gun charges.

On April 20, 2014, Wilson had walked into a hospital with a gunshot wound to his groin minutes after police responded to a report of a shooting but found no victims. Less an hour later, a man whom Baltimore authorities said witnesses saw Wilson exchange gunfire with showed up at the same hospital with gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and left knee.

In July 2016, Baltimore police arrested Wilson for allegedly possessing a loaded handgun. But records show authorities dropped Wilson's prosecution in that case too. They also show police from the Gun Trace Task Force unit who arrested him were convicted later in a racketeering conspiracy that federal authorities said included robbing civilians.

Local authorities said they believe Wilson moved to Nassau County in 2017 or 2018, first working at a Stop & Shop location in Long Beach before transferring to the West Hempstead store.

Nassau police, who described him as "troubled employee," said they also responded to two calls involving Wilson having a "mental health crisis" — in 2016 in Roosevelt and in 2019 in Long Beach.