Donny Carpenter was waiting for his 9-year-old daughter to finish a group therapy session at the Johnson County Mental Health Center when he heard five consecutive gunshots ring out.
Panic ensued when Carpenter, 37, saw sheriff’s deputies driving down Spruce Street, stopping in front of the building and pulling into the parking lot. Armed with assault rifles, he said, they jumped out of their cars and ran toward the main entrance.
Shortly thereafter, several police cars from the sheriff’s office and the Olathe Police Department pulled into the parking lot. He heard screams and saw a nightmare begin to unfold before him.
“When I tried to go to the building, I was told to stay away,” Carpenter said. “I was like, ‘I have a kid at home and I don’t know what’s going on.’
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office deputies were driving along Spruce Street Thursday evening when they saw a man shooting at the front of the building, according to a news release. Additional deputies and officers from the Olathe Police Department responded to secure the area.
Timmerman was told to wait across the street while police tried to get the situation under control. But he stayed in the parking lot, fearing the worst.
“I had to wait – I don’t know – it felt like forever, but it could have only been 30-40 minutes before I got an answer, before they said they had it under control,” Carpenter said.
Officers eventually told him that the people inside had been evacuated across the street. Someone texted his girlfriend to let her know that Carpenter’s daughter had been safely evacuated to another location.
An exact timeline was not given, but a suspect was quickly apprehended and taken into custody, the sheriff’s office said in the news release. No one was injured in the gunfire.
The sheriff’s office identified the suspect in a news release Friday as Joseph S. Longman, 34.
The motive for the shooting is still unknown.
‘It could have been so much worse’
Although the building closes at 5 p.m. on weekdays, Carpenter’s daughter attended a group therapy session that ends at 5:30 p.m. He said several people were still inside when the gunfire broke out.
He recalled seeing a man walking toward the front of the building a few minutes before he heard the gunshots. But he did not find the man suspicious as employees were still leaving the building around the same time.
As he waited for police to give permission, he said thoughts raced in his mind, hoping the shooter wouldn’t get far into the building.
“I didn’t know how far into the building the man was going to get or if he was going to come back out of the building,” Carpenter said. “I tried to prepare myself for everything.”
Carpenter said he was grateful for a quick response from law enforcement and wonders what could have happened without emergency services nearby.
“It was scary,” he said. “But it could have been so much worse.”
Longman was booked into the Johnson County Detention Center on Thursday and charged with aggravated assault. He is scheduled to make an initial court appearance in Division M2 of the Johnson County District Court on Friday at 1:30 p.m.
