photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World File Photo

Defense attorney Razmi Tahirkheli gives his closing argument in a trial in this file photo from Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Douglas County District Court.

Video of the Jan. 17 shootings at the Jayhawk Cafe shows the two underage murder defendants in the case sneaking into the bar through a side entrance and fighting with staff, including one of them brandishing a handgun and pointing it a bouncer’s head before exiting the bar, Lawrence police reported in an arrest affidavit.

After that, the confrontation quickly turned deadly when that gunman — Caiden Clem, 18, of Atchison — reportedly fired several rounds into the air outside the bar at 1340 Ohio St. “At the same time,” the affidavit alleges, Clem’s friend — Daitron Daniels Strickland, 18, of Shawnee — pulled a handgun from his waistband, pointed it toward three individuals, fired “an unknown number of rounds,” then fled the scene, according to video evidence cited in the affidavit.

Arrest affidavits are sworn documents compiled by police to detail their probable cause for arresting a person. Allegations in affidavits have not been proved in court.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

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

The allegations in Clem’s arrest affidavit came to light when a Douglas County prosecutor, perhaps by mistake, attached a copy of the affidavit — not under seal — in her motion requesting that Judge Amy Hanley publicly release a redacted version of the affidavit. The affidavit became publicly viewable for a time, then not. It’s up to the judge whether to ultimately release an affidavit — and with what redactions, if any. The attorney for Daniels Strickland, Razmi Tahirkheli, has asked the court to seal the affidavit regarding his client, arguing that its release would affect his right to a fair trial.

The allegations in the Clem affidavit give a broader account of the incident than what Tahirkheli has stated in his motion requesting that Daniels Strickland be given immunity from prosecution. In Tahirkheli’s account, Daniels Strickland indicated that he felt fear when he heard rounds being fired, that he did not see where they came from, that he believed they were being fired at him and that he drew his gun and started shooting in self-defense.

He “returned fire pointing his gun at the half-cement wall next to The Hawk’s front door,” Tahirkheli said in his motion. In doing so, he “did not aim at anyone” and “did not see anyone directly in front of him when he fired.” In Fact, Tahirkheli wrote, Daniels Strickland was responsibly trying to “mitigate harm” by purposely shooting at the half wall.

The Clem affidavit indicates that Daniels Strickland waived his Miranda rights when questioned a few hours later at Lawrence Police Department Headquarters. There, police said, Daniels Strickland told them that he was outside when he saw a person get pushed out of The Hawk after an altercation involving staff. He said he then heard multiple gunshots and — scared — “immediately” pulled out his gun and started firing toward the half wall next to The Hawk’s front door.

He “claimed he pointed his gun upwards and did not aim at anyone, although there were people sharply to his left and sharply to his right,” the affidavit said.

Detectives, however, showed him video indicating he had not pointed the gun upward but rather had fired directly at subjects near the door. Daniels Strickland said he didn’t remember seeing anyone there or seeing anyone drop after he shot. He told police that if he had intended to shoot at someone he would have turned on his gun’s flashlight. Rather, he indicated that “instead of aiming, he just quick-drew his gun from his waistband and started firing,” the affidavit said.

Daniels Strickland told police he did not initially know where the first shots had come from but “later put it together” that they had come from Clem because when they met up afterward “Clem was talking about shooting,” according to the affidavit.

Witnesses interviewed by police said that Daniels Strickland had fired a number of rounds directly at three people in front of the bar, including 18-year-old Aiden Sullivan Knowles, who was killed, and 16-year-old Brady Clark, who was critically wounded.

After he fired an unknown number of times, Daniels Strickland fled the scene and got rid of the gun, he said. Police said they subsequently found a black Glock handgun with an extended magazine and attached gun light under a vehicle inside a parking garage at 1136 Louisiana St. They also located a tan semi-automatic handgun on top of a commercial HVAC unit on the northwest side of Gertrude Sellards Pearson Hall.

During his interview, Daniels Strickland is said to have told police it was maybe “a good thing he caught a body on his first adult charge.”

photo by: Kansas Department of Corrections

Caiden Carl Ralph Clem

For his part, Clem said little to police. According to the affidavit, he was “mostly uncooperative” and admitted only to being in Lawrence with several associates whom he wouldn’t identify. He said he was in the area and saw people running but had heard no gunshots. He denied being involved in the disturbance leading up to the shooting and he denied having a gun, according to the affidavit.

Daniels Strickland and Clem are both facing murder charges in the death of Knowles — a second-degree murder charge for Daniels Strickland and a felony murder charge for Clem. Daniels Strickland is also facing one count of attempted second-degree murder in the shooting of Clark and an attempted second-degree murder charge for allegedly firing a handgun at Maddox Myer, whose age was not listed in the charging document.

Clem is also charged with aggravated assault for allegedly 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.

Daniels Strickland and Clem are both being held on bonds of $1 million in the Douglas County Jail. They are scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 10, at which time Judge Hanley will evaluate Daniels Strickland’s immunity claim based on self-defense.

Under Kansas law, a person is justified in the use of deadly force if he reasonably believes such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or to a third person.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has not released a booking photo of either man, though Clem has a publicly available mugshot on file with the state prison system due to his recent incarceration for burglary and tampering with electronic monitoring equipment.