Police arrested Vance Mims Jr. in the fatal shooting of Iris Vazquez and also charged the teen’s mother with hindering prosecution.
ALBANY, N.Y. — The father of a teenager killed after Albany’s 2025 Fourth of July fireworks celebration has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman on Washington Avenue, police said.
Vance Mims Jr., 44, faces charges of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the death of Iris Vazquez, 39. Officers found Vazquez inside a vehicle near Washington Avenue and Sprague Place at about 1:25 p.m. Sunday, July 5. She had been shot and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox said detectives identified Mims as a suspect during their investigation. Albany officers and members of the U.S. Marshals Service located him Thursday at a residence in Voorheesville, where authorities carried out a search warrant and arrested him.
Police also arrested Glenda Barrett, 43, the mother of Mims’ late son. Barrett was charged with first-degree hindering prosecution, a felony. Authorities have not publicly described the specific conduct behind that charge.
Mims and Barrett were arraigned Thursday in Albany City Court. Mims was sent to the Albany County Jail without bail, while Barrett was released under nonmonetary conditions, according to court records cited by local news organizations. They are expected to return to court Wednesday.
The couple’s son, Vance Mims III, was 17 when he was shot after the fireworks display at Empire State Plaza on July 4, 2025. Police said the teenager was an unintended victim caught in gunfire during a confrontation near Madison Avenue. He died nearly two weeks later.
The 2025 violence also involved a flare gun that ignited fires at two Madison Avenue buildings. Ten people were shot in several incidents across Albany during the holiday period, with many of those hurt being teenagers.
Three people have been charged in cases connected to the confrontation that led to the younger Mims’ death. One teenager faces a second-degree murder charge, while another teenager pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted assault in a case tied to the flare-gun fire. Prosecutors also charged Savion Wimberly, 24, with second-degree murder and other counts, alleging that he helped drive the confrontation. The murder cases remain pending, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless convicted.
Cox said the shooting of Vazquez had a connection to the dispute that developed after the teenager’s death. He stressed, however, that police had found no evidence that Vazquez took part in the 2025 incident.
Police and Albany County District Attorney Lee Kindlon declined to release further details about a possible motive or the relationships among those involved. Authorities have not said whether additional arrests are expected in Vazquez’s death.
Mims remained in the Albany County Jail on Saturday as the criminal case moved forward. The charges are allegations, and prosecutors must prove them in court.
Author note: Last updated July 11, 2026.