Feds Charge Undocumented Venezuelan in Loyola Student Killing With Illegal Firearm Possession

Federal prosecutors in Chicago have charged 25‑year‑old Venezuelan national Jose Medina‑Medina, who is accused in state court of murdering Loyola University Chicago freshman Sheridan Gorman on March 19, with illegal possession of a firearm, a count that carries up to 10 years in federal prison. DHS says Medina‑Medina entered the U.S. unlawfully in 2023, turned himself in at the Texas border, was detained and then released under the Biden administration, and was later arrested and released on a shoplifting case before the shooting. At a detention hearing, prosecutors said Gorman was with friends at a Rogers Park pier when she spotted Medina‑Medina near a lighthouse, warned her group, and was shot in the upper back as they fled, dying at the scene while her friends hid and then returned to find her unresponsive. U.S. Attorney Boutros said his office would "take no chances" that the "illegal alien" suspect would be released back into the community, a blunt statement critics read as a vote of no confidence in Cook County’s handling of violent crime. Defense counsel has previewed a diminished‑capacity argument, saying Medina‑Medina lost part of his brain and skull after being shot in the head in Colombia, has child‑level cognitive function, cannot read or write, and suffers from epilepsy, underscoring how this case is colliding with national fights over immigration policy, crime in "blue" cities, and mental health in the criminal-justice system.