photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Daitron Daniels Strickland is pictured Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, in Douglas County District Court.

A Douglas County judge on Thursday ordered the defendant in January’s fatal shooting at The Hawk to stand trial, denying his motion for immunity from prosecution based on self-defense.

Judge Amy Hanley said that no evidence supported Daitron Daniels Strickland’s claim that he had acted in self-defense when he shot two other teens, one fatally. Under the law, self-defense is recognized when a person believes that he is facing imminent harm and a reasonable person in the same situation would share that belief.

Daniels Strickland, 19, of Shawnee, faces charges of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon and misdemeanor battery, according to an amended complaint filed by the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office.

He is accused of fatally shooting Aiden Sullivan Knowles, 18, and critically wounding Brady Clark, 16, on Jan. 17 outside the popular college bar on Ohio Street.

Daniels Strickland claimed that he should be immune from prosecution because he was acting in self-defense when he heard “multiple gunshots in close proximity to him.”

Those gunshots came from the firearm of a friend of his, Caiden Clem – another teen he had arrived at the bar with and who is facing separate, less serious charges over the incident.

Hearing Clem’s gunshots entitled a “scared” Daniels Strickland to pull his own handgun out and start shooting, his attorney, Razmi Tahirkheli, had argued.

The state, however, argued that it was not even remotely an occasion for the justified use of force, and the court agreed.

This is a developing story and will be updated.