MINEOLA, NY — A Hempstead man was convicted of all counts, including attempted murder charges, for a 2023 shooting at a bar on the Nautical Mile in Freeport that struck and seriously hurt two people and caused the bar’s security guard to become paralyzed from the neck down, Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Wednesday.
Tiray Clemmons, 34, was convicted on two counts each of second-degree attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, and first-degree assault, as well as first-degree criminal use of a firearm, Donnelly’s office said.
The jury deliberated for less than five hours before delivering the verdict, according to Donnelly.
He is due back in court next month for sentencing, and could get up to 50 years in prison.
Patch has reached out to his attorney, Randy Zelin, of Manhattan, for comment.
Donnelly said he was “furious” that he had been thrown out of a Nautical Mile bar, “and he wanted payback.
“Instead of just walking away, Clemmons pulled out a gun and opened fire on the crowded outdoor bar, firing six shots at the security guard he believed had wronged him,” she said. “That 23-year-old security guard was just doing his job, and his life was forever changed by a single bullet.”
He is paralyzed from the neck down and can no longer care for his three-year-old daughter, “and will spend the rest of his life in a nursing facility,” Donnelly said.
“Clemmons’ other unintended victim also underwent emergency surgery for his injuries,” she said. “Clemmons did not give a single thought to the terror he would cause that night and the lives he would shatter. All he wanted was retribution. I thank the jury for their careful consideration of the extensive evidence of this defendant’s guilt and for convicting him on all counts.”
On July 15, 2023, at Agua on the Mile, Clemmons got into an argument with the manager, and was denied re-entry to the bar by a security guard, and moments later, at around 10:12 p.m., he returned in a black sedan, got out, and immediately began shooting at the 23-year-old security guard, prosecutors said.
Clemmons fired six rounds from a .357 firearm, striking the security guard and another bystander, according to prosecutors.
The security guard was shot in the back, severely injuring his spinal cord, and was taken to South Nassau Hospital where he underwent emergency life-saving surgery, but the shooting paralyzed the man, and he will never walk or regain full use of his arms, prosecutors said.
Another bystander was struck by two of Clemmons’ bullets, in the neck and scrotum, which also required surgery, prosecutors said, adding, that he fled from the scene after the shooting and disposed of the firearm in the canal behind Agua on the Mile.
The gun was recovered on July 19, 2023, by a Nassau police department recovery dive, according to prosecutors.
Clemmons was arrested on July 15, 2023, by members of the police’s Gang Investigations Squad, 1st Precinct Squad, and the Freeport Police Department, prosecutors said.
