KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Former student Jaylon Elmore was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday for charges related to a March 2022 shooting incident at Olathe East High School that left three people wounded.
Elmore, 21, pleaded guilty to an amended count of attempted premeditated first-degree murder and firearm possession by a felon back in January.
Elmore will serve 240 months for the attempted premeditated first-degree murder charge and eight months for the firearm possession by a felon charge. Those sentences will run concurrently, meaning Elmore will serve them at the same time.
KSHB 41 News anchor Kevin Holmes was in the courtroom Wednesday afternoon as the judge handed down the sentence. You can watch his report in the video player below.
In January, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe revealed that school officials pulled Elmore from a shop class under the guise of talking to him about his academic standing. They told Elmore to bring his backpack.
Administrators started talking about his academic work in the school office before switching to the topic of rumors he brought a gun.
Kaleb Stoppel, an assistant principal and the school's athletic director, repeatedly asked Elmore to let him search the backpack, but Elmore refused multiple times.
Stoppel then texted School Resource Officer Erik Clark and asked him to come to the office.
Clark entered the office and went to search the backpack.
FULL COVERAGE | Olathe East Shooting
Elmore put the bag around the front of his body, pulled out a handgun and fired four rounds at Clark.
Clark was struck by three bullets; one hit his body camera.
He returned fire, shooting Elmore and Stoppel, who was attempting to tackle Elmore.
One hundred rounds of ammunition were found in Elmore’s backpack.
Students were evacuated from the school, and parents were called to pick up their children due to the incident.
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