The accused killer of Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman appeared in court on Wednesday, requesting a cane and other medical care at the taxpayers’ expense.
Jose Medina-Medina, 25, an illegal Venezuelan migrant who crossed the border during the Biden administration, has been charged in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Gorman. She was shot and killed on March 19 as she walked with friends on the Rogers Park pier near Chicago’s waterfront.
As more details come to light, Medina-Medina’s case highlights the glaring failures and far-reaching consequences of Biden’s open border policies and Illinois’ sanctuary policies.
A young college student is dead while U.S. taxpayers continue to house, feed, and provide medical care and legal representation to the illegal immigrant accused of murdering her.
Medina-Medina is now facing federal gun charges in addition to a litany of state charges, including first-degree murder, for what investigators believe was a random shooting.
Gorman, a freshman at Loyola, grew up in New York and moved to Chicago for college.
“Sheridan had a life too,” her family shared in a statement to Rye, New York’s Daily Voice. “…She was 18 years old. She was exactly where she was supposed to be-living her life, surrounded by friends, doing something entirely normal…And yet, she is gone.”
At Medina-Medina’s April 15 appearance, over objections from his public defender, the judge ordered him to provide a DNA sample to Illinois State Police, along with fingerprints, for inclusion in the Illinois State Police DNA Indexing Database.
The judge granted his public defender’s requests for his medical treatment ahead of trial. Medina-Medina’s pretrial detention hearing was delayed following his arrest so he could be treated for tuberculous.
He limped into court on Wednesday, and besides requesting a cane, his counsel filed a motion requesting court-ordered medical evaluation and treatment, CBS Chicago reported.
His public defender said Medina-Medina has complained of headaches and ongoing pain from a bullet fragment lodged in his nasal cavity, which could require surgery. Medina’s attorney said he needs a cane due to a spinal injury
More details on Medina-Medina’s background and how he entered the country also have come to light in recent weeks.
Biden’s border officials released Medina-Medina into the United States in 2023 “due to lack of space” even though he was flagged as a flight risk, according to court documents.
The House Judiciary Committee released internal Border Patrol documents on Tuesday, sharing excerpts of a Border Patrol agent’s assessment of the suspect before he was released into the country.
Border Patrol agents encountered Medina-Medina in the El Paso sector of the southern border.
Medina-Medina told authorities he did not face a threat to his life in his home country and had no valid asylum claim. The agency noted he was “likely to abscond” if released into the United States, Fox News Digital reported.
In a post on X, House Judiciary Republicans said the documents show “Democrats knew this man was dangerous and had no legitimate asylum claim. But they still released him.”
Democrats knew this man was dangerous and had no legitimate asylum claim.
But they still released him. pic.twitter.com/LQxcBcXKhG
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) April 14, 2026
The excerpts also note that Medina-Medina “has close family ties or roots in this country yet are likely to abscond.” Other records indicate he had no valid U.S. address or identification and did not provide verifiable contact information.
Despite this, Medina-Medina was processed and given a Notice to Appear and released on recognizance “due to lack of space.”
Based on various reports, including by WGN 9 News, he was among the migrants bused to Chicago during the height of the border crisis. He picked up tuberculosis at a migrant shelter, according to his attorney.
Medina-Medina was arrested on June 19, 2023, for shoplifting in Chicago but released by authorities.
He skipped out on court and had a warrant issued for his arrest, but he was never picked up by police until investigators connected him to Gorman’s murder.
Following his arrest, Medina-Medina’s counsel cited significant cognitive impairments and medical issues. Her client has “the brain development of a child” after he was attacked, robbed and shot while riding his motorcycle in Colombia in 2018, WGN 9 reported.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged an arrest detainer against Medina-Medina, and his defense attorney hasn’t pushed for Medina to be released pending trial.
“We fear should he be released, ICE would arrest and deport him to a third country” where he would not be afforded due process, public defender Julie Koehler told a judge during his initial detention hearing last month.
At that hearing held via Zoom on March 27, Judge D’Anthony Thedford ordered Medina remain in custody, saying he found it hard to imagine a greater threat than someone who hides themselves “waiting on their prey.”
Gorman was walking with a group of friends on a pier in the Roger Park neighborhood, not far from the Loyola campus, when a man jumped out wearing a mask and dark clothing. The suspect approached them and shot her in the back.
Investigators used surveillance video and other evidence, including recovering a gun, to tie Medina-Medina to the shooting. His distinct limp helped detectives track his movement via video surveillance back to a shelter and identify him as the suspect.
According to prosecutors, Medina-Medina’s mother told police she heard her son leave the apartment the night of the murder and she identified him in surveillance images. A building employee also identified him as the man captured on video, WGN 9 reported.
In addition to first-degree murder, Medina-Medina faces state-level charges for attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
Earlier this month, federal prosecutors added a federal gun charge. Medina-Medina was indicted by a grand jury and charged in federal court with illegally possessing a firearm in Chicago, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
The charge stems from a March 20 search of his residence in the Rogers Park neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side, the complaint states. Officers discovered the firearm believed to be used in the shooting.
As an illegal immigrant, Medina-Medina is prohibited from possessing a firearm under federal law. The new charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The firearm Medina-Medina allegedly used to kill Gorman was illegally purchased around February 6, 2008, from a Federal Firearms Licensee in Montgomery, Alabama, according to a charging document.
Local criminal defense attorney Donna Rotunno told Fox News Digital in another report that federal officials likely added the weapons charge because they “have no faith” in the Illinois justice system.
“We have already heard that this person was of diminished capacity, so we are probably going to see some defense in regard to that,” Rotunno told Fox. “My guess is the feds wanted to jump in so they can have some control over the fate of the defendant.”
Gorman’s family has issued several statement following her death, saying, “Our daughter is not a policy debate. She is a life that was taken, and that demands accountability.”
