A man who is believed to be one of two shooters during the Feb. 23, 2023, shooting death of a man at Brickyard Pub in Federal Way has been sentenced to a little over nine years in prison.

Robert Firstrider, 33, whose last known address was in Federal Way, was initially charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm for the shooting death of Clinton Taylor, 22, a Federal Way resident. However, after pleading guilty, his charges were amended to first-degree manslaughter and third-degree assault, and the unlawful possession of a firearm charge was dismissed.

On April 4, Firstrider was sentenced to 110 months after he pleaded down his charge to first-degree manslaughter.

At his sentencing, Firstrider’s attorney, Susan Sobel, asked that the court not account for his juvenile offenses, which made his offender score a three, and instead sentence him as if his offender score were a one. She ultimately asked that he receive an 86-month sentence.

Prosecuting Attorney Thomas O’Ban, representing the state, said there was no legal basis for an exceptional sentence, to which the court agreed. Judge Sandra Widlan gave Firstrider a 110-month sentence, although she said she did give him a score that was within the range of what he would have received if he had committed the crime with an offender score of three. The range for his crime, with an offender score of one, was 86 months to 114 months, and the range with a score of three was 102 to 136 months.

Clinton Taylor’s mother, Alicia Taylor, said she felt like her son did not receive justice for his death, and she plans to sue King County. Alicia Taylor said she is going to sue for ineffective counsel and discrimination. She said she was not included in the proceedings of the case and said she did not know there was a plea deal happening.

“I feel like it was ineffective counsel, and I feel like it was discrimination due to his background and due to his skin color,” Alicia Taylor said. “And, I feel like it was absurd, and anybody in their right mind would know that somebody should have spoken to me within two years.”

Alicia Taylor said she does not feel like an adequate investigation was done, and she does not believe there was a second shooter.

“I told her that we have been engaged in a two-year investigation trying to find that second shooter,” O’Ban said. “We have turned every stone over, both with cellphone searches, with witness statements, with additional witness interviews, with photo montages, dissecting and re-dissecting every video angle that we were able to accomplish, and cross-referencing that with witness statements. We have done what we could, and we cannot find that second shooter.”

O’Ban said attempts to contact Alicia Taylor were made after Clinton Taylor’s death, and she said she wasn’t ready to speak, and for many months before the plea was reached, there were also attempts to contact her, which were unsuccessful.

O’Ban said he does not believe he would have been able to convict Firstrider of murder during a jury trial, but he does believe Firstrider started the fight that led to the second shooter firing multiple times at Clinton Taylor.

Details of the incident

According to court documents, the incident began Feb. 17, 2023, around 11:30 p.m., at the Brickyard Pub, 28845 Military Road South. Documents state that after Clinton Taylor arrived, patrons had a dispute, and he became involved.

According to documents, video footage showed Taylor and Firstrider in an initial exchange outside the front door of the Brickyard Pub, which was broken up shortly after by a stocky male with a green jacket before they were seen walking out of view of the camera. Documents state that Firstrider is seen holding a small black object that appeared to be a pistol in his right hand as he followed behind Taylor and the unknown male.

The documents state that Taylor and Firstrider were seen going in and out of the bar for 30 minutes, associating with each other, and at one point, Firstrider became agitated toward Taylor. Documents state that the stocky male with a green jacket is seen getting in front of Firstrider and ushering him back into the bar.

According to documents, a witness said as she was leaving the bar with Taylor, they encountered Firstrider, the stocky male with a green jacket and a Hispanic male wearing all black. The witness said that Taylor then remarked that he almost had to fight Firstrider, and then Firstrider began yelling profanities and circling Taylor.

The witness said that Taylor and Firstrider then exchanged punches, and moments later, she saw that Firstrider had a pistol in his hands. Documents state that the witness said she and Clinton Taylor were then struck by gunfire, and they both fell to the ground.

Documents state that right after the shooting, at 12:18 a.m., a Dodge Charger sped away from the scene. A witness said he heard two gunshots, and when he looked over, he saw a stocky male with a green jacket fire eight additional shots.

Clinton Taylor suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his head and chest, dying at the scene. The female witness suffered two gunshot wounds to her upper leg and underwent surgery, according to documents.

Officers discovered that a bar employee knew Firstrider’s name, and a search through a database found that someone with Firstrider’s same last name had a Dodge Charger registered in their name. Documents state that Firstrider was then located at 1:07 a.m. inside the Dodge Charger outside a closed grocery store about five miles away.

Documents state that Firstrider was the sole occupant, and he had what appeared to be dried blood on the front of his pants. A loaded Walther .22 caliber pistol would later be located in the vehicle.

Officers processed the scene and found one .22 caliber bullet cartridge on the ground in the area of Taylor’s body, and nine 9mm cartridges. Additionally, during a double-blind photo montage, the female witness identified a photo of Firstrider as looking like one of the suspects, although she said his hair was shorter.