Chicago area man not held for Bradley University shooting

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — A Cook County man who was released from custody pending the outcome of allegations he shot a woman at Bradley University early Sunday.

Edward Traywick Jr., 19, of Lansing appeared Tuesday in front of Peoria County Circuit Judge Mark Gilles, who denied the prosecutors’ request to detain him pending his case’s outcome.

Gilles cited Traywick’s lack of criminal history as well as the fact that he had a job and a high school diploma as reasons why he didn’t side with the state’s desire to hold Traywick.

He faces charges of reckless discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, according to court records.

Lansing is a suburb of Chicago, about 25 miles south of Chicago’s South Loop, near the border of Indiana.

Neither he nor the woman who suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen were students at Bradley.

At 2:14 a.m. on Oct. 19, Bradley University and Peoria police offices were called to a report of a shooting on the third floor of Geisert Hall, said Assistant State’s Attorney Greg Siepel in open court.

Traywick and the victim were both in town visiting a friend at the time of the incident. When the friend went to use the bathroom, she heard a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot, the prosecutor said.

While officers were on the way, they stopped a car and found a woman inside with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, along with three other people inside. The officers took the woman to a local hospital.

Inside the car, the prosecutor said, officers allegedly found 42 bullets in a black Nike backpack that also contained a 9mm pistol. Two other people in the car were questioned but were released by the police, according to court records.

The victim, on Tuesday, was in stable condition. Siepel said the victim named Traywick as the person who shot her.