Olathe East shooting suspect remains hospitalized
OLATHE, Kan. -- A teenager charged with attempted capital murder in a shooting at Olathe East High School remains hospitalized.
Due to his condition, Jaylon Elmore was not in the courtroom for a hearing Thursday morning. He is represented by attorney Paul Morrison who updated the court on his condition.
"Mr. Elmore is still hospitalized," Morrison said. "Judge, he had another surgery earlier this week and it looks like he's gonna remain in the hospital at least for a few more days. I'm not sure anybody knows exactly how long."
The judge set a status hearing for March 31 at 2:15 p.m. to see if Elmore has been released from the hospital at that point.
The shooting at Olathe East that injured Elmore, school resource officer Erick Clark and Assistant Principal Kaleb Stoppel happened on March 4. Clark and Stoppel were treated at a hospital and released that same day.
According to the affidavit released Wednesday, the ghost gun used in the shooting was loaded with 13 9mm rounds when a spent round blocked the gun's slide from closing. The court document showed five rounds had already been fired inside the school office at that point.
The document showed a student reported hearing a student identified as "Jay" talking about having a gun on the school bus. The student reported the tip to a counselor who told school administrators.
Elmore was pulled from class and taken to the office area where he was told about the tip from the bus. The affidavit said Elmore became defensive and didn't want to cooperate.
Stoppel texted Clark that he needed help.
Clark arrived and tried to search Elmore's bag. That's when Clark said Elmore pulled a gun and fired about five rounds.
Clark pulled his own weapon and shot Elmore.
Stoppel tried to grab the gun from Elmore and both ended up falling to the floor. Stoppel ended up on top of Elmore and stayed there until Elmore started to vomit. At that point, Stoppel reported standing up and realizing that Clark had been shot. He said he didn't realize until later that he was also injured.