Middletown Barbershop Shooting: Teen Barber Shot Three Times, Suspect Charged

A teenager was sitting in the barber chair by the front window, waiting on his next customer, when a masked man walked through the door and opened fire.

In September 2025, that's the scene Middletown, New York detectives pieced together after a shooting inside 6 West Barbershop on West Main Street left a 17-year-old employee wounded, and it's the scene that ended, two days later, with a 16-year-old suspect in handcuffs 70 miles away in Manhattan.

What Happened

According to Mid Hudson News, a masked gunman opened fire in a West Main Street, Middletown barber shop at around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, wounding an employee several times. Shop owner Freddy Williams told the outlet there were five people in his shop at the time, two of them customers, and the gunman approached one of his employees sitting in a chair against the front window waiting for a customer and fired, shooting the teen four or five times. Williams identified the victim as Nasir Andrades.

Police later confirmed the mechanics of the attack in stark detail. The alleged suspect walked into the shop wearing a camouflage balaclava-style mask, and fired several rounds at the teen from a black handgun, striking him in the back three times. Separate reporting on the case noted the shooter entered the barbershop through the front door wearing all black and a camouflaged balaclava-style mask, and then immediately fired several rounds from a black handgun in the direction of the victim.

What makes this shooting even more chilling is what police say it wasn't: random. Police believe the victim was the intended target of the shooting, as there were others in the shop and no one else was shot at or injured. Investigators later determined the victim and shooter knew each other from high school and that the shooting stemmed from a prior disagreement.

Andrades didn't go down easy. The victim was conscious and alert, and able to speak with officers and medical personnel, and was rushed to Garnet Health Medical Center by ambulance, remaining in stable condition, according to police. He was a new employee of the barbershop, and was working inside when the shooting took place, investigators said.

The gunman didn't stick around. The suspect fled on foot and got on a black electric scooter that had been parked on South Street, then fled south on South Street and onto Washington Street, where the investigation led to the upper area of Washington, near Prospect Avenue. In a strange twist reported the same day, a few blocks away, police surrounded a house at 94 Washington Street, though it was not immediately known if that was related to the shooting, and people inside the home were evacuated while officers wearing armored tactical gear and carrying ballistic shields entered the house with a K-9.

The Manhunt Ends in Manhattan

For two days, the shooter was in the wind. Then detectives got a break. Investigators with the assistance of the Hudson Valley Crime Analysis Center, the FBI Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force, and officers from the NYPD's 33rd and 30th Precincts, traveled to New York City to locate a suspect connected to the shooting. Reporting from the Times Union placed that search specifically in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.

After a coordinated surveillance operation, officers spotted the suspect exiting a building. He was taken down without a struggle: the suspect taken into custody is a 16-year-old resident of the City of Middletown, and due to his age, no further identifying information will be released, according to police.

Back in Middletown, he was booked and processed on one count of second-degree attempted murder. The Orange County District Attorney's Office confirmed the charge, and per the Times Union, the defendant has been charged with second-degree attempted murder, a felony, and is being held at the Orange County Jail in Goshen.

Middletown Police Chief John Ewanciw didn't mince words about what the shooting did to his city. 'This crime understandably shocked our community, given the extreme violence and reckless nature of discharging a firearm inside a local business,' said Police Chief John Ewanciw.

There's at least one piece of good news in all this: Andrades survived. The victim has since been released from the hospital and is recovering, according to investigators.

Why It Matters

This wasn't a robbery gone wrong or a stray bullet through a window. It was a targeted attack that walked straight through a business's front door during open hours, with paying customers a few feet away, and turned a chair meant for a haircut into the exact spot where a teenager took three rounds in the back.

Barbershops are built on open access, anyone can walk in, sit down, and be served. That's the whole point of the business. It's also the exact vulnerability this shooting exploited: a personal conflict between two people who knew each other from school followed one of them straight into his workplace, with zero warning to the shop owner or the customers sitting a few feet away.

Industry Impact

For shop owners, this case is a hard reminder that the barbershop's greatest asset, being a welcoming, walk-in-friendly community space, offers no built-in screening for who comes through that door. A masked man in a balaclava walking into a business in broad daylight, mid-shift, is the kind of scenario most shop safety plans don't account for, because most owners never expect a personal dispute to escalate into gunfire on their own floor.

It also puts a spotlight on how quickly law enforcement can move when multiple agencies coordinate. A city police department, a regional crime analysis center, an FBI task force, and NYPD precinct officers all worked the same case within 48 hours, a reminder that a fast, thorough initial report and camera footage can make or break how quickly a suspect is found.

Lessons for Barbers and Shop Owners

Know your walk-in reality. A shop can't run background checks on every customer, but owners can control sightlines. Chairs positioned against street-facing windows, like the one in this case, offer minimal protection or warning time. Consider chair placement and clear lines of sight to the front door as part of your shop layout, not just workflow.

Take personal conflicts seriously, even off the clock. Authorities say this attack stemmed from a prior disagreement between people who knew each other. If a barber or apprentice mentions ongoing beef, harassment, or threats from someone in their personal life, that's a workplace safety issue, not just personal drama, loop in shop leadership and consider extra precautions during that employee's shifts.

Invest in visible security. Camera systems that clearly capture the entrance and chairs, along with signage noting active surveillance, won't stop every determined attacker, but they speed up identification and can factor into whether someone chooses to act at all.

Have an emergency plan and practice it. Know where your nearest hospital is, keep a first-aid kit stocked for serious trauma (not just nicks and cuts), and make sure every chair-side barber knows the fastest exit route and how to call for help without hesitation.

Support the victim, not just the headline. Andrades was a new hire, working a shift like any other, when he was shot three times. Shops dealing with a violent incident should prioritize the injured employee's recovery and mental health support, this industry runs on trust between chair and community, and how a shop responds after tragedy shapes that trust for years.

Related Reading

This case was first reported in September 2025. At the time of this writing, we found no confirmed updates on trial proceedings, a plea, or sentencing. Readers looking for the current status of the case should check Mid Hudson News, the Times Union, and the Orange County District Attorney's Office directly for the latest.

If you or your shop has experienced a violent incident, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and local victim services agencies can provide support resources for employees and owners alike.