Agua on the Mile in Freeport.

By Michael Mashburn From Daily Voice

A man who opened fire outside a Long Island bar after being denied re-entry — paralyzing a 23-year-old security guard and injuring another patron — will spend three decades in prison.

Tiray Clemmons, 34, of Hempstead, was sentenced Wednesday, Dec. 4, after a Nassau County jury convicted him of attempted murder and multiple related charges for the 2023 shooting outside Agua on the Mile in Freeport.

Clemmons had been kicked out of the bar on July 15, 2023, following an argument with management, as Daily Voice reported. When he attempted to return, a security guard stopped him at the door.

Moments later, around 10:12 p.m., Clemmons allegedly came back in a black sedan, stepped out, and immediately fired six rounds from a .357 handgun toward the guard, according to the Nassau County DA’s Office.

The guard was struck in the back, suffering a catastrophic spinal injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. He underwent life-saving surgery at South Nassau Hospital but will never walk or regain full use of his arms, prosecutors said.

A second victim — an innocent bystander — was hit in the neck and groin and also required surgery.

Clemmons fled after the shooting and tossed the gun into a canal behind the bar. Nassau County police divers recovered the firearm four days later.

Clemmons was arrested the night of the shooting by members of the Nassau County Police Department’s Gang Investigations Squad, First Precinct Squad, and Freeport Police.

Following a jury trial in September, he was found guilty on two counts of second-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault, criminal use of a firearm, and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

“[Clemmons] could have gone home to lick his wounds but instead he picked up a gun and started shooting. Firing into the crowded bar, this defendant targeted the security guard who kept him out, striking the young man in the spine and paralyzing him from the neck down,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.

“Clemmons was denied re-entry into a bar, 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.”