Murder Suspect In Loyola University Slaying Is Venezuelan Illegal Released By Biden

A Venezuelan illegal immigrant who was released into the country by the Biden administration has been identified as the suspect in the fatal Thursday shooting of Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Sunday.

Jose Medina-Medina, 25, was arrested after he allegedly approached the college freshman, wearing black clothes and a black mask, before firing one round as she tried to run, according to DHS.

Medina was released into the country after crossing the border illegally in May 2023, DHS said. The Venezuelan national then allegedly shoplifted from a local Macy’s in June 2023, according to the Chicago Tribune.

He failed to appear for his hearing in that case, leading the judge to issue a warrant.

As of September 2023, the warrant was still outstanding, according to the Tribune.

The shooting occurred shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday while the 18-year-old student was walking with friends to see the Northern Lights, her family said.

Police identified Medina because of his “distinct limp,” the Tribune reported. He was also seen without a mask in surveillance video taken inside an apartment building after the shooting.

DHS is now pressuring sanctuary authorities in Illinois to not release the migrant monster. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer has been lodged with local police, who are not expected to honor it, due to sanctuary laws.

“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,” Acting Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.

“We are calling on Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien from jail back into American neighborhoods,” Bis added.

Gorman, a business student who hailed from New York, was involved in the Christian campus group Cru.

Her grieving family said she had “a way of leaving people better than she found them” and that 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,” the statement said. “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,” they added.

After learning that the suspect is a Venezuelan national, Gorman’s family called for “accountability” in the case.

“As the case moves forward toward arraignment, the family has been informed that the suspect is a Venezuelan national and additional information is expected to be released. We are again faced with the unbearable truth: our daughter’s life was taken, and our family will never be the same,” they said, according to Fox News.

“We recognize that the arraignment represents a formal step in the justice process, and we appreciate the work of law enforcement in bringing the case to this point. But 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.”