Man charged with murder in fatal shooting of Loyola student

A 25-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman, police announced Sunday.

In addition to a first-degree murder charge, Jose Medina was charged with attempted murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm following the March 19 attack.

Hours earlier, federal immigration authorities lodged an arrest detainer urging city and state officials not to release a person of interest who was being questioned.

Medina was scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday.

Gorman, 18, and her friends took an early morning stroll to the pier close to Tobey Prinz Beach on March 19, just north of Loyola’s Lake Shore campus, hoping to capture some photos with a view of the skyline and potentially the Northern Lights, her family said in a statement.

When they arrived, a masked gunman “emerged from the shadows” and fired a single shot as they fled, according to a Chicago police report. One of Gorman’s friends who witnessed the shooting told the Chicago Sun-Times that “it didn’t seem like it was intentionally targeted toward any of us.”

The friends ran in different directions when the shot was fired, but returned when they saw Gorman laying on the ground. She had been shot in her head and was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.

DHS officials said the suspect was taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol on May 9, 2023, before being released. The suspect was later charged with misdemeanor retail theft, accused of stealing $132.50 of merchandise from the State Street Macy's two months later, county court records show. An outstanding warrant from that case is active.

In a statement Sunday morning, Gorman’s family said her absence is “something we will live with forever” and that they won’t allow her to be forgotten as the case moves through the justice system.

“This was not inevitable,” her parents wrote. “This was a choice. And our daughter paid the price for it. … For our family, this is not about a process — it is about accountability, and it is about ensuring that Sheridan’s life is not reduced to just another case moving through the system. This cannot become just another story that fades with time.”