A prosecutor called to the stand employees, students and police to testify about what happened the night of a fatal shooting last month at the Hawk, a popular bar near KU’s campus.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Eve Kemple laid out evidence for multiple hours Tuesday for Douglas County District Judge Amy Hanley to consider binding over two defendants charged in the shooting.
Lawrence police allege that Caiden Clem, 18, of Atchison, fired several rounds into the air outside the Hawk before Daitron Daniels Strickland, 18, of Shawnee, turned and fired toward a small group near the bar’s entrance, killing 18-year-old Aidan Sullivan Knowles and injuring 16-year-old Brady Clark during the early morning hours of Jan. 17.
Tuesday was the beginning of a preliminary hearing, where a judge determines whether there is probable cause to justify a full trial.
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Daniels Strickland is charged with one count of first-degree murder, which includes premeditation, and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. He was previously charged with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder, but his charges were upgraded. He is also charged with battery and criminal possession of a firearm by a felon.
Daniels Strickland’s defense attorneys, Razmi Tahirkheli and Angela Trimble, asked for a delay in their presentation of evidence due to a short turnaround. Daniels Strickland’s hearing will continue March 5.
Tahirkheli and Trimble also filed a motion for immunity that will be resolved March 5. The motion argues Daniels Strickland’s use of force during the shooting was legally justified because he reasonably believed he was in imminent danger after hearing multiple gunshots fired nearby.
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Clem is charged with four counts of aggravated assault and one count of criminal possession of a firearm by a felon. He was previously charged with first-degree felony murder in the death of Knowles, but prosecutors amended the charges last week.
After about an hour and a half, Clem’s attorney, Carl Cornwell, said Clem was waving his right to the preliminary hearing. He will have his arraignment early next month.
Clark testified Tuesday about being shot but said he didn’t remember much of what happened after the incident. He recalled arriving at the bar with Knowles and two other friends and meeting up with another group that included Clem. He said he knew Clem from a prior relationship between his cousin and Clem.
He recalled a sharp pain in his stomach, but said he didn’t remember anything after that.
Video shows scuffle, shooting near bar entrance
Justin Hicks, a manager at the Hawk, wasn’t at the bar that night, but provided security camera video.
The video, played during the hearing, showed a man wearing black pull out a gun and fire multiple shots toward the entrance. You cannot see in the video where the bullets landed.
A different video taken from inside the bar shows the altercation at the entrance and someone passing a phone over a crowd of people at the door. After everybody except staff had exited the bar, you can see an employee holding the door closed as a man in all black fires a gun outside the bar, visible in the video through a window.
As the videos were shown, multiple people in the courtroom gasped.
Jake Spencer and Maddox Myer testified they had been at the bar together earlier in the evening and were driving in a car nearby when they noticed an argument involving their friends near the entrance yelling about a missing phone.
After stopping and getting out of the car to see what was happening, Spencer said he was handed a phone and put it in his pocket when gunfire suddenly erupted. He described seeing a white male wearing an orange hoodie, a man he identified as Clem, firing a weapon, though he could not determine the direction of the shots. Feeling scared, Spencer said he ran back to his car.
Myer said an argument involving about 10 people broke out outside the bar, centered on a phone, and at one point someone pushed a security guard against a window while demanding it back. Myer said a phone was eventually handed over, and as he and Spencer turned away, he saw someone dressed in all orange fire a gun into the air.
Spencer said he saw Knowles lying on the ground about 10 feet away and noticed that he was not moving.
Myer testified that he then saw a man dressed in black with a beanie pull a handgun from his waistband and fire several shots toward Myer and his friends, who were standing just inside a fenced area near the building. He estimated between five and eight shots were fired. He said no one in their group was armed.
Myer described seeing Knowles on the ground bleeding and Clark collapsing before he ran back to the car, worrying he might have been shot himself but not noticed.
Bar staff members recall altercation, gunshots
Multiple staff members working at the Hawk that night recounted a scuffle as they tried to get people to exit the bar at closing time, eventually escalating into gunshots.
Robert Bjorseth was working as a doorman at the Hawk and said he saw a group refusing to leave. A man who he identified as Clem pulled out a gun. Bjorseth said he backed up and put his hands up because he was scared he might get shot.
After moving the group outside, Bjorseth said he saw Clem point the gun at the head of a manager, Cole Morris. He said Clem fired shots into the air. Once Bjorseth heard gunshots, he ran.
Christopher McCormick was also working at the Hawk that evening and said he was trying to usher people out of the building during closing time when a man he identified as Daniels Strickland punched him and spat on him.
McCormick said he saw Clem point a gun at Morris’ head. He was inside the building when he heard a couple of loud pops come from the front door. Moments later, he heard a few more.
Jake Robinson was working at the Hawk when he noticed a disturbance around closing time. He said he saw Clem about 15 feet away, standing between cars outside the Hawk, grab a gun from his waistband and fire shots straight up into the air.
Morris, a manager at the Hawk, recounted feeling something on the back of his head, which he later saw was a gun. He said he was scared for his life. After getting everyone out of the Hawk, he said he heard gunshots as he held the door to the bar shut and took cover.
Law enforcement officers recall response, interview with defendant
Michael Demery, an officer with the Lawrence Police Department, said he arrived on scene and began assisting two victims. He said one was not moving and had no pulse. The other was responsive and was saying “help me please” over and over.
Detective Kimberlee Nicholson with the Lawrence Police Department interviewed Daniels Strickland.
Nicholson said Daniels Strickland initially did not want to speak with police but later agreed to give a statement. She testified that Strickland was wearing a bright orange sweatshirt at the time of the interview, different from the black puffer jacket seen earlier, and said Daniels Strickland told her he had switched sweatshirts with Clem because Clem was cold.
Nicholson testified that Daniels Strickland described being pushed out of the bar with a group of friends and hearing yelling followed by gunshots, initially saying he did not know who fired a weapon. After Nicholson showed him surveillance footage, Nicholson said Daniels Strickland acknowledged that it was him in the video and admitted to firing a gun, though he said he pointed it upward and did not intend to hit anyone.
Nicholson said she observed video showing Clem firing into the air before Daniels Strickland pulled a gun and fired. She recalled Daniels Strickland said he fired because he was scared and believed shooting was a way to prevent him being harmed, saying he had seen others get shot in similar situations. He told Nicholson he did not mean to hurt or kill anyone.
During cross-examination, Tahirkheli, Daniels Strickland’s attorney, asked Nicholson about the timing of the shots fired. Nicholson said she hadn’t done a full analysis of the timeline, but it was her understanding Clem fired initial shots in the air before Daniels Strickland fired his gun. Clem later fired more shots in the air further down the street.
Michaela Long, crime scene technician with LPD, shared details of the multiple gun shots Knowles sustained, including one to the head.
The hearing will continue with Daniels Strickland’s attorneys providing evidence at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 5.
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Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.
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