Sheridan Gorman was 18 years old, out with friends on the Chicago lakefront, trying to catch a glimpse of the northern lights.
She didn't make it home.
And when the alderwoman whose ward she died in went on camera to respond, Sheridan's family felt compelled to issue a public statement correcting her.
An Alderwoman Defends the Shooter's Feelings
Maria Hadden – 49th Ward alderwoman, self-described progressive, first queer woman of color elected to the Chicago City Council – went on camera and delivered what may be the single coldest response to a teenager's murder in recent political memory.
"It sounds like this might have been a wrong-place, wrong-time situation," Hadden told Fox 32 Chicago, "running into a person who had a gun. They might have unintentionally startled this person at the end of the pier."
Startled him.
Jose Medina-Medina, a 25-year-old Venezuelan national, allegedly concealed himself behind a lighthouse at Tobey Prinz Beach that night, dressed in all black with a mask covering his face — then opened fire as Sheridan and her friends scrambled to get away.
Prosecutors say he fired at them as they scattered for cover in the grass.
Sheridan was shot in the back. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hadden's verdict: the girls might have surprised him.
"Unbelievable," Manhattan Institute's Rafael Mangual posted on X. "Perhaps these politicians can put out a comprehensive list of the places we should avoid and the times we should avoid them so as not to get shot to death by strangers."
"Imagine being an alderman, having a college freshman murdered in your ward," CWB Chicago added, "and posting a video in which you brainstorm an excuse that maybe the victim 'startled' the guy who killed her."
Sheridan's own family — in the middle of their grief — issued a public rebuttal.
"What happened to Sheridan cannot be reduced to the idea of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time," the family said. "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."
Biden Let Him In. Chicago Let Him Stay.
Hadden's response didn't emerge from nowhere. It's the logical endpoint of a policy chain that Democrats built and defended for years.
The Department of Homeland Security laid out the timeline: Jose Medina-Medina was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol on May 9, 2023, and released into the country under the Biden administration. Two months later, he was arrested for shoplifting at a Chicago Macy's — and released again on a personal recognizance bond. He missed his court date. A warrant was issued. That warrant sat outstanding for nearly three years while Medina lived less than a mile from where he would eventually kill Sheridan Gorman.
DHS lodged an ICE detainer the moment he was arrested for murder. But Illinois enforces the TRUST Act, which bars local authorities from honoring those detainers. Gov. JB Pritzker signed that framework — the same Pritzker who found time to fly to Minnesota and mourn two people killed during an ICE operation, but who went silent for days after an 18-year-old was shot dead in his own state.
When his office finally responded, it spent half the statement accusing Trump of "politicizing heinous tragedies."
Trump called the killing "devastating" and said what the facts support: "This person came in through the open door policy of Joe Biden."
Chicago Isn't the First. It Won't Be the Last.
Laken Riley was jogging on the University of Georgia campus in February 2024 when Jose Antonio Ibarra — a Venezuelan national who entered illegally, was released by the Biden administration, committed crimes in New York, and was shielded from ICE by sanctuary policies — killed her.
Sheridan Gorman was walking a pier near her college campus in March 2026 when Jose Medina-Medina — a Venezuelan national who entered illegally, was released by the Biden administration, committed crimes in Chicago, and was shielded from ICE by sanctuary policies — killed her.
The names change. The policy doesn't.
Every death in this chain was a choice — made by politicians who decided that protecting illegal immigrants from federal enforcement mattered more than protecting American citizens from them.
Maria Hadden told you what she thinks. JB Pritzker told you what he thinks. Brandon Johnson hasn't said a word.
Sheridan's family said it plainly: "This was a violent and preventable act."
They're right. And the only thing left to decide is whether you're going to remember these politicians' names when it matters.
Sources:
- Andrew Mark Miller, "Chicago lawmaker ripped over 'disgusting' response to college student killed by alleged illegal immigrant," Fox News, March 23, 2026.
- "ICE Asks Governor Pritzker and Chicago Sanctuary Politicians to Not Release Criminal Illegal Alien Accused of Killing 18-Year-Old Loyola College Student," Department of Homeland Security, March 22, 2026.
- "DHS says suspect in Loyola student's murder was Biden-era catch-and-release," Fox News, March 22, 2026.
- "Pritzker breaks silence on migrant charged in student's murder, blames Trump for 'politicizing' case," Fox News, March 23, 2026.
- Paige Fry and Jason Meisner, "Tragedy of Loyola student's alleged killing by migrant marked by his clouded history, political reaction," Chicago Tribune, March 23, 2026.
