Thursday, October 1, 2026
A Hempstead man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for a 2023 shooting outside a bar on Freeport’s Nautical Mile that left two people seriously injured, including a 23-year-old security guard who was paralyzed from the neck down.
Tiray Clemmons, 34, is meant to follow his 30 year sentence with five years of post-release supervision.
A Nassau County jury convicted him on Sept. 16 of this year of two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault, criminal use of a firearm, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
“Tiray Clemmons was angry that he was kicked out of a bar, and he turned to wanton violence,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “He could have gone home to lick his wounds but instead he picked up a gun and started shooting.
“Firing into the crowded bar,” the district attorney added, “this defendant targeted the security guard who kept him out, striking the young man in the spine and paralyzing him from the neck down.”
“Clemmons was denied re-entry into a bar,” she said. “And because of his malice and brutality, an innocent man is now cruelly denied the chance to ever hold his three-year-old daughter again.”
According to prosecutors, on July 15, 2023, Clemmons argued with a manager at Agua on the Mile and was not allowed back inside.
A short time later, around 10:12 p.m., he returned in a black sedan, stepped out, and opened fire.
He fired six shots from a .357 handgun, striking the security guard in the back and hitting another customer with two bullets.
The security guard suffered a severe spinal cord injury and underwent emergency surgery at South Nassau Hospital.
He was left permanently paralyzed and will “never walk or regain full use of his arms again,” according to the DA’s office.
The second victim was shot in the neck and scrotum and also required surgery.
Prosecutors said Clemmons left the scene after the shooting and threw the handgun into the canal behind the bar. The weapon was recovered four days later by a Nassau County dive team.
Clemmons was taken into custody the same night by investigators from the Nassau County District Attorney’s office and local law enforcement agencies.
The case was prosecuted by Unit Chief Paula Cajdler of the Firearm Suppression and Intelligence Unit in the Narcotics, Firearms and Gangs Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Nicholas Mauro and Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Investigations Division Rick Whelan.
Clemmons was represented by attorney Randy Zelin.
