Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old freshman at Loyola University, was fatally shot in the head while walking with friends near Loyola Beach pier at around 1:30 AM on Thursday. José Medina-Medina, a 25-year-old Venezuelan man, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated use of a firearm for Sheridan Gorman's death. According to a Department of Homeland Security statement, José Medina-Medina allegedly approached Sheridan Gorman and her friends while wearing a mask and dressed in all black, then shot her as she attempted to flee.
José Medina-Medina illegally entered the United States in May 2023. He was arrested for shoplifting at a Macy's in Chicago on June 19, 2023, and was released again. The Department of Homeland Security has filed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest detainer for José Medina-Medina.
This name derives from our city's legacy of standing up for justice, dignity and the rights of all people, no matter where they come from.
Political reactions have centered on immigration and sanctuary city policies. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, when asked if he would apologize to Sheridan Gorman's family, sidestepped the question and blamed predecessors for sanctuary city laws and President Trump for public safety issues. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker admitted there have been 'real failures' in the US immigration system following Sheridan Gorman's death. Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis and conservative commentators have claimed that Chicago's sanctuary city policies and open border policies led to Sheridan Gorman's death.
Police have determined that Sheridan Gorman was not the intended target of the shooting.
I want to take this moment to reiterate that Chicago does not want ICE on our streets, in our airports nor in our city. Chicago believes in abolishing ICE.
Chicago Alderman Maria Hadden suggested in a video message that Sheridan Gorman's killing might have been a 'wrong place, wrong time' incident and that she might have 'startled' her killer. Loyola Chicago's student newspaper, The Phoenix, initially referred to José Medina-Medina as an 'illegal immigrant' in an Instagram post, then issued a correction and apology, changing the wording to 'Rogers Park resident'.
Separately, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson unveiled the city's new 'Abolish ICE' snowplow on Wednesday. The 'Abolish ICE' name won this year's snowplow-naming contest, submitted nearly 9,300 times and accounting for about 70% of all entries.
Sheridan Gorman had her whole life ahead of her before this cold-blooded killer decided to end her life.
She was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who RELEASED this illegal alien TWICE before he went on to commit this heinous murder.
The kids were out doing normal things people do in the neighborhood and it sounds like this might have been a 'wrong place, wrong time', running into a person who had a gun. They might have startled this person at the end of the pier, unintentionally.
I believe that we're all grieving the loss of Sheridan and other folks who have lost their lives because of senseless violence.
This has been a terrible tragedy, and I know that the Gorman family has suffered mightily. There have been real failures. Those failures, of course, extend beyond the borders of Illinois. They’re national failures, a failure to have comprehensive immigration reform, a failure of the president to follow his own edict to go after the worst of the worst.