photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Edgewood Homes at 16th Street and Haskell Avenue was the scene of a fatal shooting Thursday, July 17, 2025.

Updated at 11:40 a.m. Friday

Two people are dead and a third was critically injured in a shooting on Haskell Avenue on Thursday evening, according to Lawrence police and emergency radio traffic.

The Lawrence Police Department posted on social media that the shooting took place at 1600 Haskell Avenue — the general address for the Edgewood Homes apartment complex operated by the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority — shortly after 8 p.m. Officers found two people dead on the scene and another person was taken by helicopter to an area trauma center with life-threatening injuries.

The incident unfolded around 8 p.m., when officers responded to the scene following multiple 911 calls reporting gunfire. At least one caller reported a man running through the parking lot firing a weapon, police said in a news release.

Upon arrival, officers located three people: a 21-year-old man from Lawrence, dead inside a vehicle from an apparent gunshot wound; a 24-year-old Lawrence man, dead on the ground nearby from what is believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound; and a 22-year-old Lawrence woman suffering from critical injuries as a result of being shot.

LPD’s preliminary investigation indicates that the deceased male suspect and the female victim had recently ended a relationship, and the woman arrived home to find the suspect — later identified as Donavon Deleon — in her residence. After an altercation inside the residence, the woman fled to a nearby vehicle where the other man — later identified as Javien Hardin — was waiting. Deleon then allegedly approached the vehicle and fatally shot Hardin in the truck before pursuing and shooting the woman as she ran away. Deleon is believed to have then taken his own life near the injured victim, police said.

Investigators remained on scene throughout the night. According to emergency radio traffic, the woman had a single gunshot wound that entered her back and exited her chest.

Hardin is listed as a 2022 graduate of Lawrence’s Free State High School.

— Journal-World partner Operation 100 News contributed to this report.