Stop & Shop manager testifies Gabriel Wilson smiled, had 'dead look' after he shot colleague in office

Stop & Shop manager Ana Meehan testified on Thursday that she was in a second-floor office at the supermarket chain’s West Hempstead store on April 20, 2021, when she heard several bangs. 

Meehan said she looked at the door and asked her co-workers, Ray Wishropp and Cathy Moran, if they knew what the noise was. Wishropp stood up and walked to the door of the office, and then fell to the floor. 

Meehan testified that she saw cart collector Gabriel Wilson — on trial for second-degree murder and other charges in Nassau County Criminal Court — standing in the doorway, pointing a gun. Smoke was drifting out of it, Meehan said. 

Meehan and Moran — who also testified Thursday — both got on the ground trying to find cover. One of the bullets Wilson had allegedly fired from a .380 semiautomatic handgun barely missed Meehan, leaving a hole in the bottom drawer of a nearby printer.

“I said, ‘Please don’t,’ ” Meehan testified, explaining under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Jared Rosenblatt that she begged Wilson not to shoot her, too. He then left.

Rosenblatt and Assistant District Attorney Stefanie Palma have said Wilson entered the store on the morning of that deadly April day and shot store manager Aram Dikici and perishables manager Olivia Leary in a second-floor office of the West Hempstead store. Both testified this week that they suffered severe injuries and continue to have health problems as a result of the shooting. It was Leary’s second day at the store. 

Prosecutors said Wilson then went to a nearby office, where Wishropp was, along with Meehan and Moran. There, Wilson opened fire, killing Wishropp, a 49-year-old father of seven who had celebrated the birth of his first grandchild shortly before he died.

Wilson pleaded not guilty in June 2021 to a nine-count indictment that included second-degree murder, attempted murder and other charges. 

Dikici had asked Moran the day before if she knew what to do in an active shooting, she testified. She said Stop & Shop requires employees to participate in active shooter video training every month.

Moran told the jury that she was preparing a new schedule for her employees when she heard three or four “snaps.” Moran said she originally thought someone had tossed bang snaps, the novelty noisemakers that pop when thrown on the ground. But when she turned from her computer, she saw Wilson standing in the doorway and realized what she had heard was actually gunshots. 

“He stood at the door, not saying anything, just smiling,” Moran testified. “He didn’t say anything, just a dead look.” 

Moran said she did not initially realize that Wishropp had been shot until she heard him make an “ugh” sound. “I didn’t know where he was hit,” Moran said. “I didn’t see anything.”

Wilson left, Meehan slammed the door shut and Moran called 911 for help. 

About a dozen of Wishropp’s family members have attended the first four days of the trial, and many gasped in horror when prosecutors showed the jury a photo of Wishropp, dead on the floor of the office. 

Arthur Wishropp, the victim’s uncle, said “it was horrible” to see that photo and that it has been traumatic for the family to hear details about his death. He also said it was difficult to see Wilson’s family in court. 

“I don’t want even to see them; I don’t want to hear who they are,” Arthur Wishropp said. “I just pray that nice God gives them comfort, gives them some peace in their minds, because they didn’t put him up to that. I feel for them also, they are very hurt also. But I have nothing to say to them.” 

Wilson’s criminal defense attorney, Brian Carmody, declined to comment on the trial on Thursday. Carmody, acknowledged in his opening statement on Monday that Wilson shot Wishropp, Dikici and Leary, but he asked jurors to keep an open mind about his client’s intent on the day of the shooting.

During Monday’s opening arguments, Carmody said he expected his client would be convicted of some crimes. If jurors believed Wilson did not intend to kill that day, they could convict him of the lower charge of manslaughter, which has a lighter sentence. The maximum sentence for murder is 25 years to life in prison.

There will be no testimony in the case on Friday. Acting Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty told the jury that testimony will most likely end on Monday, with closing arguments on Tuesday.