{
  "id": "2014-11-17-edinboro-university-water-street-shooting",
  "slug": "edinboro-university-water-street-shooting-2014-11-17",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Edinboro University of Pennsylvania",
    "shortName": "Edinboro",
    "state": "PA",
    "type": "public-masters",
    "alertSystemName": "Edinboro Alert",
    "enrollment": 6500
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2014-11-17",
    "type": "shooting",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "headline": "Fatal shooting near campus prompts four-hour precautionary lockdown",
    "headlinePublic": "Fatal shooting near campus prompts four-hour precautionary lockdown",
    "summary": "Just after 6 PM EST on Monday, November 17, 2014, former [Edinboro University](https://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2014/11/17/Edinboro-University-in-lockdown-after-fatal-shooting-near-campus/stories/201411170202) student Tobiah J. Johnson, 22, was shot and killed outside his Water Street apartment a short distance from campus. Police later determined the shooter was 21-year-old [Trey Daron Gunter](https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/edinboro-university-police-arrest-student-in-fatal-shooting-near-campus/) (also an Edinboro student), who shot Johnson during a dispute over a stolen handgun. Edinboro University placed the campus on a precautionary lockdown at approximately 7:40 PM EST, [notifying the community](https://fox8.com/2014/11/17/university-on-lockdown-after-off-campus-shooting/) through its E2Campus alert system (email and text) and its Facebook page. The lockdown was lifted at approximately 11:45 PM EST, before the suspect was arrested.",
    "outcome": "Tobiah J. Johnson, 22, of Reynolds (Mercer County), Pennsylvania, was pronounced dead at the scene. Trey Daron Gunter, 21, was arrested the following day and initially charged with criminal homicide. He pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and was sentenced in February 2016 to 15 to 40 years in state prison. Two co-defendants were also convicted: Michael Barron pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for striking Johnson, and Ryan Andrews pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge for serving as the getaway driver. Both victim and suspect had ties to the Edinboro student community. The shooting was the second off-campus killing affecting Edinboro that year and prompted a campus-wide conversation about violence in the off-campus apartment district that ran along Water Street.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 1,
      "injured": 0
    },
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2014-11-17T19:07:00-05:00",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "Off-campus shooting in area of Water St. Active police investigation. Avoid area. Gunman still at large.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "http://boroonline.cs.edinboro.edu/EUPArticle/32515/university-shaken-second-campus-shooting",
      "sourceDescription": "BoroOnline (Edinboro University student newspaper), quoting the university's first emergency email alert sent at approximately 7:07 PM EST",
      "annotations": [
        "Sent at approximately 7:07 PM EST (roughly an hour after the shooting) as the first formal notification through the university's E2Campus alert system, which reached the community by email and text, as documented by the student newspaper BoroOnline",
        "'Gunman still at large' is the operative warning: the suspect, later identified as Edinboro student Trey Daron Gunter, was not arrested until the following day",
        "Terse four-sentence construction names the location ('Water St'), the status ('Active police investigation'), the action ('Avoid area'), and the threat ('Gunman still at large')"
      ],
      "characterCount": 104
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestampApprox": "Approximately 7:40 PM EST on November 17, 2014",
      "channel": "facebook",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Fox 8, and WPXI coverage of the Edinboro University lockdown notification",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "update",
      "timestampApprox": "Evening of November 17, 2014, approximately 9:30 PM EST",
      "channel": "facebook",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from WPXI and Fox 8 coverage of the evening Facebook updates during the four-hour lockdown",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 4,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestamp": "2014-11-17T23:45:00-05:00",
      "channel": "facebook",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.wfmj.com/story/27409975/lockdown-lifted-after-shooting-near-pa-university",
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from WFMJ and Fox 8 coverage citing the Edinboro University Facebook post that lifted the lockdown shortly before midnight",
      "annotations": []
    }
  ],
  "context": "The November 17, 2014, shooting on [Water Street in Edinboro](https://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2014/11/17/Edinboro-University-in-lockdown-after-fatal-shooting-near-campus/stories/201411170202) (a borough of approximately 6,400 people in northwestern Pennsylvania) prompted a four-hour precautionary campus lockdown. Just after 6 PM EST, Tobiah J. Johnson, a 22-year-old former Edinboro student from Reynolds in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, returned to his Water Street apartment with his girlfriend. According to investigators, [Trey Daron Gunter](https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/edinboro-university-police-arrest-student-in-fatal-shooting-near-campus/) (a 21-year-old Edinboro student from Pittsburgh) and two other men confronted the pair, and Gunter shot Johnson during what investigators determined was a dispute over a stolen gun. Edinboro University placed the campus on a precautionary lockdown at approximately 7:40 PM EST, notifying the community through [its E2Campus alert system](https://fox8.com/2014/11/17/university-on-lockdown-after-off-campus-shooting/) (which reached students by email and text, as documented by the student newspaper) and its Facebook page; the lockdown was lifted at approximately 11:45 PM EST. The four-hour lockdown ended before the suspect was arrested; Gunter was apprehended the following day. The shooting was the [second off-campus killing](http://boroonline.cs.edinboro.edu/EUPArticle/32515/university-shaken-second-campus-shooting) connected to the Edinboro student community in 2014 and contributed to a renewed conversation about safety along the Water Street corridor, where many upperclass and post-graduate students rented apartments. The shooter Gunter was from Pittsburgh and the victim Johnson from Mercer County.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "Edinboro notified the campus through its E2Campus mass-notification system, which reached the community by email and text, and also posted to its Facebook page; the student newspaper reported students received the alerts by email and on their phones",
    "The four-hour lockdown was lifted before the suspect was arrested, reflecting investigators' assessment that the shooting was a targeted personal dispute rather than a continuing threat to the campus community",
    "The first emergency alert went out roughly an hour after the shooting reported just after 6 PM EST; the precautionary lockdown ran from approximately 7:40 PM to 11:45 PM EST",
    "Tobiah Johnson, the victim, was a former Edinboro student; Trey Gunter, the shooter, was a current Edinboro student from Pittsburgh, making this an intra-community killing in the off-campus apartment district"
  ],
  "responseTimeMinutes": 67,
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Lockdown lifted at Edinboro University; search continues for suspect in fatal shooting (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)",
      "url": "https://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2014/11/17/Edinboro-University-in-lockdown-after-fatal-shooting-near-campus/stories/201411170202",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Lockdown ends at Edinboro University after off-campus shooting (Fox 8)",
      "url": "https://fox8.com/2014/11/17/university-on-lockdown-after-off-campus-shooting/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Police: Suspect, victim in deadly Edinboro shooting both from Pittsburgh (WPXI)",
      "url": "https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/edinboro-university-lockdown-after-reports-campus-/140081076",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Police Arrest Student In Fatal Shooting Near Edinboro U. Campus (CBS Pittsburgh)",
      "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/edinboro-university-police-arrest-student-in-fatal-shooting-near-campus/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Lockdown lifted after shooting near Pa. university (WFMJ)",
      "url": "https://www.wfmj.com/story/27409975/lockdown-lifted-after-shooting-near-pa-university",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Edinboro student from Pittsburgh charged in off-campus shooting (TribLive)",
      "url": "https://archive.triblive.com/news/edinboro-student-from-pittsburgh-charged-in-off-campus-shooting/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "University shaken by second off-campus shooting (BoroOnline, Edinboro student newspaper)",
      "url": "http://boroonline.cs.edinboro.edu/EUPArticle/32515/university-shaken-second-campus-shooting",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "shooting",
    "off-campus",
    "lockdown",
    "e2campus-alert",
    "pa-state-system",
    "water-street",
    "stolen-gun-dispute",
    "2014"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-13",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-16",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}