Zachary Michael Bradley, 28, of Conover, was sentenced to serve eight to 10 years in prison following his conviction for a number of violent crimes during Catawba County Superior Court on Thursday, December 11, 2025.
The Honorable Peter Knight, Superior Court Judge from Henderson County, imposed terms of the active sentence after Bradley entered a guilty plea to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, flee to elude arrest, robbery with a dangerous weapon, assault with deadly weapon with serious injury, first-degree burglary and possession of a firearm by felon.
The defendant will serve his period of incarceration in custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.
On February 9, 2025, the defendant shot a male victim in the abdomen from his vehicle with a handgun. He then fled the scene and led law enforcement on a lengthy chase, failing to stop for signs and lights while exceeding a speed of 100 mph. The chase ended when Bradley crashed into a garage door.
Officers from Hickory Police Department responded to a residence on December 5, 2024, to find blood on a handrail and doorframe. Inside they encountered the victim with a deep head laceration and blood on his body.
The victim told officers that Bradley struck his own wife at the residence earlier that day, and the victim intervened.
Bradley left, without his wife, but returned sometime later and forced his way into the residence, striking the victim several times around the head with a metal pipe. The defendant retrieved his wife, struck her several times and demanded cash from the victim, which was given. After the victim told Bradley he would shoot him, Bradley and his wife left the residence.
The possession of firearm by felon charge and conviction stemmed from a November 2016 conviction for assault inflicting serious bodily injury in Catawba County.
The cases were investigated by Tammy Johnson of Hickory Police Department. Assistant District Attorney Howard Wellons prosecuted the matter for the State with aid from Legal Assistant Meredith Scott.