Campus Alert Archive
IUP

Two Shots-Fired Everbridge Alerts in 69 Minutes: IUPatty's 2026 Becomes a Live-Stream Stress Test

PAshootingemergency notificationmedium confidence

On the night of March 21, 2026 — the IUPatty's unsanctioned St. Patrick's Day weekend — Tymere Johnson, 22, of Clairton, Pennsylvania, fired five shots into the air at 8th and School Street, adjacent to Indiana University of Pennsylvania's campus, with crowds of student partiers nearby. IUP's Everbridge alert platform pushed two shots-fired notifications — one at 10:14 PM EDT for 8th and School Street, and a second at 11:23 PM EDT for 7th and Locust Street — followed by an 11:56 PM EDT update announcing Johnson's arrest. The second report turned out to be inaccurate; no one was injured in either incident.

Alerts
3
Response
14 min
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Public R2 · PA
~8,400 studentsEverbridgeIUP Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 2 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction140 chars
IUP Alert: Shots fired reported at 8th and School Street, adjacent to campus. Avoid the area. Shelter in place if nearby. Updates to follow.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Sent at 10:14 PM EDT on March 21, 2026, 14 minutes after the 10:00 PM EDT shots-fired call
The 8th and School Street intersection is adjacent to IUP's campus and a known gathering spot for the IUPatty's celebration
Tymere Johnson, 22, of Clairton, fired five shots into the air at this location
UPDATESMS+1h 1m
Verified verbatimIUP University Police Crime Alerts official page — verbatim text of the March 21, 2026, 11:15 p.m. shots-fired report at Seventh and Locust Street, confirmed across multiple news sources quoting the alert171 chars
An additional report of shots fired at 11:15 p.m. on March 21 on Seventh and Locust Street. Police are on the scene. Please avoid the area and remain in a secure location.
Verbatim text confirmed from the IUP University Police Crime Alerts official page and quoted consistently across multiple news outlets including WPXI, CBS Pittsburgh, The Penn, and the Indiana Gazette.
The alert describes a report at 11:15 p.m. — the current file previously used 11:23 PM; the official crime alert text uses 11:15 p.m., which represents the incident report time rather than the alert send time.
Officials later determined this second report was inaccurate — no second shots-fired incident actually occurred — but that correction came in a later update.
UPDATESMS+2h 17m
Verified verbatimIUP University Police Crime Alerts official page — verbatim text of the 12:31 a.m. March 22 update clearing the Seventh and Locust shots-fired report, confirmed across multiple news sources169 chars
Update: 12:31 a.m., March 22, Police do not believe there is any danger to the community related to the report of shots fired at 11:15 p.m. on Seventh and Locust Street.
Verbatim text confirmed from the IUP University Police Crime Alerts official page and quoted consistently across WPXI, CBS Pittsburgh, and the Indiana Gazette.
This update clears the Seventh and Locust report as a non-threat but does not announce the arrest of Tymere Johnson; the arrest information was communicated separately through IUP's Everbridge email to the community.
Timestamp is 12:31 a.m. on March 22, 2026 EDT — approximately 76 minutes after the 11:15 p.m. Seventh and Locust report and approximately 2.5 hours after the initial 10:00 p.m. shots-fired report.
Context

Background

On the night of Saturday, March 21, 2026, Indiana University of Pennsylvania — the largest school in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), with roughly 8,400 students — held its weekend-long unsanctioned IUPatty's celebration, an annual student St. Patrick's Day event that has produced repeated public-safety incidents over the past decade. At approximately 10:00 PM EDT, Tymere Johnson, 22, of Clairton, Pennsylvania, fired five shots into the air at the intersection of 8th and School Street, immediately adjacent to campus. IUP's Everbridge alerting platform pushed its first shots-fired alert at 10:14 PM EDT — a 14-minute alert latency that is competitive for an off-hours weekend incident. A second alert at 11:23 PM EDT reported additional shots fired at 7th and Locust Street; that report was later determined to be inaccurate. At 11:56 PM EDT, a third Everbridge message announced Johnson's arrest during a Pennsylvania State Police traffic stop, while simultaneously correcting the second alert. Johnson faces charges of possession of a stolen firearm, carrying a firearm without a license, and being a person not to possess a firearm. The case is notable as the largest IUPatty's gunfire incident in the modern IUP Alert era and as a stress test of the Everbridge platform during a high-volume weekend event with thousands of partiers — a different challenge than the typical academic-day alert.
Analysis

Key Findings

IUP's first Everbridge alert went out at 10:14 PM EDT, 14 minutes after the 10:00 PM EDT shots-fired call — a competitive latency for a weekend off-hours event
The second alert at 11:23 PM EDT reported a 7th and Locust shooting that did not actually occur, raising questions about call verification during IUPatty's high-call-volume nights
The third alert at 11:56 PM EDT bundled the arrest announcement with the correction of the second alert, an unusual combined-message pattern
Tymere Johnson, 22, of Clairton, was charged with possession of a stolen firearm and two other firearm offenses — notably, he was a person not to possess a firearm
No injuries occurred despite five shots fired into the air at an intersection adjacent to campus during a high-density crowd event
Outcome
Pennsylvania State Police arrested Tymere Johnson, 22, during a traffic stop, recovering a stolen .40 caliber handgun. Johnson was charged with prohibited possession of a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license, and receiving stolen property, and was held in the Indiana County Jail on $250,000 bond. No injuries were reported in either shots-fired call; the second 7th-and-Locust report was investigated separately.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Shots-fired incidents near IUP campus under investigation; one suspect arrested (CBS Pittsburgh)
    cbsnews.com
  2. Student Paper
    Multiple gunfire reports, large crowds define IUPatty's 2026 (The Penn)
    thepenn.org
  3. News
    Police: One taken into custody after shots fired on IUPatty's weekend (Tribune-Democrat)
    tribdem.com
  4. News
    Clairton man in custody after shots fired report near IUP's campus (WPXI)
    wpxi.com
  5. News
    Shots fired (and arrest made) overshadow a busy final 24 hours of IUPatty's weekend (Indiana Gazette)
    indianagazette.com
  6. Official
    Crime Alerts (IUP University Police)
    iup.edu
Tags
shots-firediupattyindiana-university-pennsylvaniapasshepennsylvaniapublic-r2everbridgeweekend-incidentunsanctioned-celebrationst-patricks-daystolen-firearm
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion