13-year-old Newburgh resident arrested after shots-fired incident

A 13-year-old Newburgh city resident was arrested after shots were fired near Liberty and South streets around 3:14 p.m. on July 8. The case puts a very young suspect at the center of another gun-related investigation in one of Orange County’s most closely watched cities.

The City of Newburgh Police Department identified the arrest as a juvenile case tied to the July 8 shots-fired incident on South Street. Police have not released the exact charges, whether anyone was injured, or what led investigators to the suspect.

The location matters. Liberty Street and South Street sit in the middle of a city where gunfire calls have repeatedly driven public-safety concerns, and even a single shots-fired report can ripple through nearby blocks where families, students and businesses are trying to move through a normal afternoon. This arrest came in broad daylight, not late at night, which makes the age of the suspect even more striking.

The 13-year-old’s involvement also fits a troubling pattern Newburgh residents have seen before. In October 2025, a separate 13-year-old was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy in Newburgh. That younger victim was later identified as Matthew DeGroat, and the older boy was indicted for murder and pleaded not guilty on Nov. 12, 2025. In March, defense lawyers in that case raised discovery concerns.

Taken together, the cases show how deeply gun violence in Newburgh has reached into the lives of children and teenagers, not just adults. A juvenile arrest in a shots-fired case does not answer the larger question of where the gun came from, how the teenager got involved, or whether earlier intervention might have changed the outcome. But it does show that police continue to confront firearm incidents involving children young enough to be in middle school, not just high school.

For Newburgh, the latest arrest is more than another entry in a police blotter. It is a reminder that the city’s gun-violence problem is still landing on neighborhood streets, and that the next call involving shots fired could again pull a child into the criminal justice system.