Cashier describes terrifying moments shots rang out
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WEST HEMPSTEAD, New York (WCBS) — A terrified cashier spoke out about the moment shots rang out at a Stop & Shop in West Hempstead on Tuesday.
Police said one person was killed and two others injured in the shooting, which took place at around 11:30 a.m. at the store on Cherry Valley Avenue.
The shooter fled the scene, carrying a black handgun. Police identified Gabriel Dewitt Wilson as a person of interest in the case and said he was an employee of the store. He was apprehended a few hours later in Hempstead.
A tearful employee told CBS2’s Carolyn Gusoff they heard five to six gunshots on the upper level of the store, where the manager’s office is located.
“I’m a cashier, and I was right up at the cash register, and I heard I think about six gunshot wounds. I finishing waiting on my customer, she was almost done, and I ran out, I left, and I sat in my car in the parking lot. Then I asked the officer if I should leave. I’m over with all the employees sitting here,” Cathleen Coughlin said.
“Incredibly frightened. Nobody knew what was going on. Just ran out the back of the store, and everybody that I know is OK, thank God,” said Kelly Egan, with the Local 342 union. “They’re all quite traumatized. When is this going to stop? They’re all quite traumatized.”
“It is a worst nightmare. It’s everybody’s worst nightmare. You go to work every day and you hope you get home to your family every day. And unfortunately, some people don’t get that opportunity,” Egan added.
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