19-year-old arrested after east Lawrence shooting injures two
Two people survived an east Lawrence shooting near 16th and Haskell, and police arrested a 19-year-old on attempted first-degree murder charges.
Two people were hurt in an east Lawrence shooting near 16th Street and Haskell Avenue, and police quickly arrested a 19-year-old Lawrence man on suspicion of intentional and premeditated attempted murder in the first degree.
Lawrence police said the shooting happened around 9:30 p.m. Thursday in a heavily traveled corridor that sits near homes, campus-related traffic and east-side neighborhood routes. One male and one female were taken to a trauma center, and both were expected to fully recover. Even with that outcome, the case immediately became a major public-safety concern because the charge tied to the arrest is among the most serious available short of homicide.
Douglas County Jail booking records identified the man arrested as Jaystyn James Curtiss, 19, of Lawrence. Jail records also showed he was being held without bond. Police posted the update on social media while the investigation was still in its earliest stage, and they have not released a motive, a relationship between the people involved or any other explanation for what led to the gunfire.
The location adds to the concern for neighbors in eastern Lawrence. The 16th Street and Haskell Avenue area has a recent violent-crime precedent: on July 17, 2025, a shooting at 1600 Haskell Avenue, the general address for the Edgewood Homes apartment complex operated by the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, left two people dead and a third critically injured. That history makes Thursday night’s shooting especially unsettling for residents who rely on the corridor every day to reach nearby streets, housing and campus-linked destinations.
Police records may not immediately fill in the gaps. The City of Lawrence says its Community Crime Map is not a live call-monitoring system, and completed reports generally take 3 to 5 business days to appear. The police department’s calls-for-service log covers most calls from the last 24 hours, but some entries are redacted for confidentiality.
For east Lawrence, the immediate questions are not just who was arrested, but whether the stretch around 16th and Haskell remains active as investigators sort through witness accounts, physical evidence and any surveillance video. For now, police say the victims are expected to recover, the suspect is jailed without bond, and the case remains under active investigation.
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