Student charged in Olathe East school shooting remains in critical condition after surgery
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Olathe East High School shooting
A shooting at a Johnson County high school injured a school resource officer and an administrator, according to police. The suspect, a student, is in custody.
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The 18-year-old Olathe East High School student accused of opening fire inside the school’s administrative offices earlier this month underwent surgery this week and remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Jaylon Elmore was charged with attempted capital murder in connection with the March 4 incident, but has not yet appeared in court because of his injuries and was unable to attend another hearing in the case Thursday morning.
The case was continued until the end of the month as Elmore recovers and he will remain under guard at the hospital until he is well enough to be taken into custody by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, attorneys said during the brief virtual hearing at Johnson County District Court.
“He had another surgery earlier this week and it looks like he’s going to remain in the hospital at least for a few more days, I’m not sure anybody knows exactly how long,” said defense attorney Paul Morrison, the former prosecutor and Kansas attorney general appointed to represent Elmore.
Elmore is accused of exchanging gunfire with school resource officer Erik Clark during a struggle inside the high school administrative offices around 10:30 a.m. March 4.
The teen had been brought to the offices after a student warned a school counselor that another student named “Jay” regularly carried a gun at the school, according to an affidavit released publicly Wednesday. When school leaders attempted to search Elmore’s backpack, he drew a handgun and exchanged fire with Clark as assistant principal Kaleb Stoppel attempted to wrestle the gun away from Elmore.
Elmore, Clark and Stoppel were all wounded by gunshots. Clark and Stoppel were released from the hospital later that day.
The incident remains under investigation by the Johnson County Officer Involved Shooting Investigation Team, which filed the affidavit in Elmore’s criminal case and will review whether Clark was justified in firing his weapon during the encounter.
Because the investigation is ongoing, Morrison has yet to receive many of the police records and documents he will need for Elmore’s defense and asked Judge Thomas Ryan to continue the case for several more weeks while they await updates on Elmore’s health and those records.
A scheduling conference and first appearance is now set for 2:15 p.m. March 31 for the attorneys to discuss updates in the case and for Elmore to be presented with the attempted capital murder charge, should he be in good enough health to attend that day, Ryan said. The hearing will be held virtually.
Elmore will be jailed when he is ultimately released from the hospital and has been ordered held on a $1 million bond.
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 11:42 AM.
