20 Oct Murder Charge Dropped as Lubbock Man Takes Plea in After-Hours Club Shooting Case

Patrick Bradley, 54, will serve three years in prison for shooting at a man at a Central Lubbock after-hours club in 2023, while a murder charge tied to the death of that man’s uncle was dropped under a plea deal, according to court records.

In 137th District Court on Friday, Bradley pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, admitting he fired a gun at Isaiah Brown. The Lubbock County District Attorney’s Office agreed to drop the murder count in exchange. KLBK reported he got credit for 890 days already served.

The dead man was Brown’s uncle, Clifton Holman, 39. Police were sent to the club on 35th Street around 3 a.m. Feb. 11, 2023. They found Holman with several gunshot wounds, and he died after an ambulance took him to University Medical Center.

According to an arrest affidavit, investigators learned Bradley and Holman had a heated conversation about the Aug. 15, 2022, drive-by killing of 69-year-old Margie Johnson at her home. No arrests have been made in her death, and police say the case remains under investigation. Security video from the club captured Bradley and Holman in an exchange investigators described as animated.

Brown told investigators he and Holman were together at the club when Bradley and Johnson approached them, and that he was making for the door when Bradley pulled a pistol and fired at him. Another witness said Holman was trying to settle things down when Bradley, he said, shot at Brown and went after him as he left.

That witness said he and Holman pushed their way outside and saw Brown driving away. He said he turned back, heard more gunshots and felt bullets pass him. The sources don’t say who fired the shots that hit Holman. His brother, who was also there, told investigators he didn’t see it but had been told the shooter was a man called “Goldie,” a street name police records tie to Bradley.

Brown said he drove off toward Holman’s apartment on Raleigh Avenue, where someone began firing at the car and he abandoned it. Officers later found the car with bullet holes, plus a .223-caliber casing and several 9 mm casings, and ballistics tied the two scenes together, the warrant says.

Bradley surrendered four days later and gave investigators a statement, the affidavit says. He acknowledged being at the club but denied firing a gun or knowing who had. Bradley, who called Margie Johnson a second mother, said her family suspected Holman and Brown were involved in her death, and that Holman said he wasn’t.

Bradley said he phoned her son, Tony Johnson, to tell him Holman was at the club, and Johnson turned up. Afterward, he said, he got into Johnson’s vehicle, saw a gun inside and heard Johnson say something suggesting he had shot Holman. Detectives said phone location data placed both men near the club. Johnson, 43, who also faces a murder charge in Holman’s death, told investigators he went straight home from work and wasn’t there. He remains jailed on a $250,000 bond, the Avalanche-Journal reported, and is awaiting trial.

Bradley was jailed after the 2023 arrest and freed in July 2024 when his bond dropped from $300,000 to $100,000. He returned to jail on Oct. 10, 2025, after being indicted for murder in Holman’s death.