CHICAGO, Illinois — Police have charged a man with murder in the fatal shooting of a Loyola University student who is from Westchester County.
Earlier Sunday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement was requesting the suspect, who was being questioned in connection with the Loyola University student’s murder and is now facing murder charges, not be released from custody.
The Department of Homeland Security says ICE issued an arrest detainer, and alleges the suspect is an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela.
Jose Medina, 25, of Chicago has been charged in the shooting, Chicago police announced Sunday evening. The charges include first-degree murder.
Medina was arrested Friday evening by Chicago police, CPD officials said Sunday evening.
A new release from DHS earlier in the day Sunday also named the suspect in the fatal shooting as Jose Medina. DHS says he entered the country illegally in 2023.
On Saturday, CPD said they were questioning a person of interest in connection with Thursday’s deadly shooting, prior to announcing the charge against the suspect on Sunday.
Sheridan Gorman, 18, was walking with friends at Tobey Prinz Beach, less than 1 mile from campus, around 1 a.m. Thursday.
A male suspect approached the group on foot, took out a gun, and opened fire, police said.
Gorman, shot in the head, was pronounced dead at the scene. No other injuries were reported.
The student, a New York native, was just months away from finishing her first year of college. Police say she was not the intended target.
Gorman’s family asked anyone with information to come forward.
The family also said private and public services to honor Gorman’s life are being planned for next week in Yorktown, New York.
Gorman’s relatives have described her as “the light of our lives,” saying, “she made people feel seen, safe, and loved simply by being who she was.”
Full statement from Gorman’s family:
“Three days ago, our lives were shattered in a way no family should ever have to endure.
Sheridan was our daughter, our sister, and the heart of our family. She was full of life, full of kindness, and full of a love that she gave freely to everyone around her. She made people feel seen. She made people feel valued. Whether it was her friends, her family, or someone she had just met, Sheridan had a way of leaving people better than she found them.
She was only 18 years old and just beginning her journey as a college freshman-embracing new experiences, building friendships, and living the life every parent hopes their child will have.
On the night she was taken from us, Sheridan was doing something completely normal. She was walking with a group of friends near her dorm, in an area that was understood to be safe. There was nothing reckless about her actions. There was nothing unusual about where she was. She left her dorm to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights. She was exactly where she should have been-close to campus, surrounded by friends, living her life.
What happened to Sheridan cannot be reduced to the idea of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not an abstraction. This is the loss of a daughter. The loss of a sister. The loss of a future filled with milestones that will now never come. Our family is forever changed.
We are deeply grateful for the support we have received. The Yorktown community has stood behind us with strength and love. The Loyola community has shown compassion that we will never forget. We also thank Law Enforcement for their ongoing efforts and for the care they have shown our family during this investigation.
But gratitude alone is not enough.
We cannot accept a world where moments like this become something people grow used to. We cannot allow ourselves to become desensitized to violence. When we begin to accept these tragedies as inevitable, we all become vulnerable to them. Apathy is not harmless-it allows these moments to repeat.
We ask anyone who knows anything-anything at all-to come forward and speak with law enforcement. Someone out there has information that matters. Doing nothing is not neutral. It only allows this to remain unresolved.
Private and public services to honor Sheridan’s life are being planned for next week in Yorktown, the community that helped shape the incredible young woman she became.
Sheridan deserved a full life. She deserved the future that was taken from her. We will not allow her to be remembered as just another story. She was extraordinary, and she will always be loved.”
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