Judge Delays Hawk Shooting Hearing Again, Families Angered in Court

Families of the two teenagers shot at The Hawk sat through another delay Monday, then watched the hearing collapse as the court pushed the case to June 11 and the judge expressed frustration.

The April 13 hearing was the third time the matter had been continued. It was supposed to address whether there is probable cause to send Daitron Daniels Strickland to trial and whether he is immune from prosecution under his self-defense claim. Instead, defense attorney Razmi Tahirkheli told Douglas County District Court that Lawrence Police Detective M.T. Brown was out of the country and had not been served with a subpoena. Judge Amy Hanley said she had no choice but to grant the request, even though prosecutors opposed the delay.

The reaction in the courtroom was immediate and raw. Relatives of the victims reacted in disbelief when they learned the hearing would not go forward. One family member shouted in frustration, while others comforted one another with tissues as another date was set in a case that has already dragged through multiple continuances.

The shooting happened just before 2 a.m. Jan. 17 at 1340 Ohio St., outside one of Lawrence’s best-known nightlife spots near the University of Kansas campus. Police were dispatched to the bar at 1:49 a.m. and initially said two suspects were taken into custody nearby without incident. The victims were identified as Aidan Knowles, 18, of Shawnee, and Brady Clark, who was 16 at the time and later reported as 17. Knowles was killed, and Clark was critically wounded.

The case has moved through court with high stakes from the start. Two 18-year-old defendants were arrested on suspicion of murder early in the investigation, and bond was set at $1 million cash or surety at their first appearance. Strickland, 18, of Shawnee, faces first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, criminal possession of a firearm by a felon and misdemeanor battery. Caiden Clem, 18, of Atchison, faces four counts of aggravated assault and one count of criminal possession of a weapon by a felon.

Prosecutors have argued that video and witness accounts show no basis for Strickland’s immunity claim. Court records describe the confrontation as starting with a dispute with bar staff and spilling outside. Later reporting said Clem allegedly fired several rounds into the air before Strickland turned and fired toward a small group near the bar’s entrance.

The emotional toll has been visible from the beginning. In February, relatives reacted audibly when video of the shooting was shown. Bobby Knowles, Aidan Knowles’ father, wrote that his son was “simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Three delays later, the case remains a painful test of how Douglas County handles a homicide tied to one of its most crowded late-night corridors.