photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Lawrence police conduct interviews after a shooting at The Jayhawk Cafe, 1340 Ohio St., on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026.

Updated at 3:48 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20

Murder charges against the two suspects in the Saturday shootings at the Jayhawk Cafe were filed Tuesday, and the defendants made their first appearance in Douglas County District Court via video from the county jail.

Prosecutor Ricardo Leal asked Judge Stacey Donovan to keep the bonds of the two 18-year-olds at $1 million cash or surety, and Donovan did so. Leal cited a “callousness” in how one of the defendants, Daitron Lamont Daniels Strickland, behaved after the shootings, in which one young man lost his life.

Leal said that Strickland had told police that it was “maybe a good thing he caught a body on his first adult charge.”

Leal said that Strickland has a Johnson County juvenile case from 2024 involving a criminal threat.

Donovan, finding Strickland indigent, appointed defense attorney Razmi Tahirkheli to represent him.

Strickland, in jail attire with a patch of brightly dyed red hair, told Donovan, “I’m trying to get my bond moved down to $100,000,” but Donovan left it at $1 million, and Strickland, on her advice, said little else.

Strickland, of Shawnee, has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Aiden Sullivan Knowles, 18, and one count of attempted second-degree murder in the shooting of Brady Clark, 16. He also faces an attempted second-degree murder charge for allegedly firing a handgun at Maddox Myer, whose age is not listed in the charging document.

When asked if he waived a formal reading of the charges against him, Strickland said, “I read it to myself.”

photo by: Kansas Department of Corrections

Caiden Carl Ralph Clem

His co-defendant, Caiden Carl Ralph Clem, 18, of Atchison, has been charged with murder in the first degree (during the commission of the felony of aggravated assault) and two counts of aggravated assault. The murder charge relates to Knowles. The aggravated assault charges relate to using a handgun to place two people, Cole Morris and Jake Spencer, in reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm. Spencer is listed in charging documents as having been born in 2009. No year is given for Morris.

Clem’s bond was also kept at $1 million, and he appeared via video from the jail with a hired attorney, Carl Cornwell.

Leal said that Clem, 18, had a high criminal history score already, with one person felony on his record and three person misdemeanors. He said Clem was on post-release supervision currently, as he had just been released from Kansas Department of Corrections custody in November.

According to KDOC records, he was convicted in Atchison County of burglary in 2023, an incident that involved the theft of a firearm, and was also convicted of tampering with electronic monitoring equipment. Those records list the case status as “active,” meaning he is still on supervision.

KDOC records also indicate that while serving time at El Dorado Correctional Facility in June of 2025 Clem had a disciplinary report for “incitement to riot.”

Donovan ordered Strickland and Clem to both appear in court Wednesday for a scheduling conference with Judge Amy Hanley.

The shootings occurred just before 2 a.m. at the Jayhawk Cafe, commonly known as The Hawk, at 1340 Ohio St. Police have not released many details regarding the shootings, including a possible motive. Knowles’ father has said his son, who died at the scene, was simply “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The popular college bar released a statement expressing sadness and affirming its full cooperation with police in the ongoing investigation: “We are deeply saddened by the senseless and tragic incident that occurred outside our establishment last night. Our thoughts are with the individuals who were harmed, their families and loved ones, and all those affected.”

Police spokeswoman Laura McCabe told the Journal-World that the two suspects and the two shooting victims had all been inside The Hawk Saturday. All four were under 21.

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