Sheridan Gorman was 18 years old, walking with friends to see the northern lights from a Chicago pier, when a man in a mask shot her in the back.
Now Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is blaming Donald Trump.
Adam Carolla went on air and said exactly what millions of Americans were already thinking – and he wasn't polite about it.
Pritzker Blamed Trump. His Own Alderman Fired Back.
The facts of this case are not complicated.
José Medina-Medina, a Venezuelan national, was caught at the southern border on May 9, 2023, and released into the country under Joe Biden.
He was arrested months later in Chicago for shoplifting and released a second time on June 19, 2023.
He skipped his court date.
A warrant was issued for his arrest.
Nobody came.
Three years later, he was hiding behind a lighthouse on a Chicago pier wearing a mask and carrying a .40 caliber handgun when Sheridan Gorman walked by.
She tried to run.
He shot her in the back.
Pritzker went in front of cameras Tuesday and blamed Trump.
"There have been real failures," Pritzker said. "Those failures, of course, extend beyond the borders of Illinois. They're national failures – a failure of the president to follow his own edict to go after the worst of the worst."
Carolla didn't let that stand for five seconds.
"So the problem is, you got an 18-year-old girl. She was executed by an illegal. You live in a sanctuary state in a sanctuary city. So, it's Trump's fault," Carolla said on The Adam Carolla Show. "Trump said he was going to go after the worst of the worst, you fat idiot."
He wasn't finished.
"Here's the deal: the guy who just got done executing this 18-year-old was not a criminal. He was just here in your sanctuary city illegally. He'd been caught for shoplifting."
Then Carolla connected the trap Pritzker built for himself.
"You would have complained that all he did was shoplift two years ago and ICE is coming after him and deporting him," Carolla said. "You would have squealed like a stuck pig. Now, at some point, that guy who wasn't the worst of the worst – he was just a shoplifter – ends up snuffing out an 18-year-old young girl. Now he is a killer. You got your wish."
Even a Democrat couldn't stomach it.
Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez went on Fox News and redirected the blame where it actually belongs.
"If you're going to blame the federal government, then blame it where this problem began – which was under the Biden-Harris Administration that allowed 15 million people from South America, Central America, and across the oceans to come through our southern border, manipulate asylum, be poorly vetted, and then scattered to the seven winds of the United States," Lopez said.
Illinois Built This Trap. Sheridan Gorman Fell Into It.
Pritzker has spent years constructing the system that let Medina-Medina walk free.
Under the Illinois TRUST Act, local law enforcement cannot honor ICE detainers unless a federal criminal arrest warrant exists.
A shoplifting charge doesn't qualify.
A missed court appearance doesn't qualify.
An outstanding warrant for an illegal immigrant doesn't qualify.
DHS said it plainly: Sheridan Gorman "was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who released this illegal alien twice before he went on to commit this heinous murder."
Pritzker's response was to accuse Trump of politicizing a tragedy – this from the governor who repeatedly assured Illinois residents Chicago was safe in the months before Sheridan Gorman was shot.
Gorman's family didn't mince words about what happened.
"When systems fail – whether through release decisions, lack of coordination, or unwillingness to act – the consequences are not abstract. They are real. And in our case, they are permanent."
The Pattern Pritzker Refuses to See
Laken Riley was murdered in Georgia in 2024.
Her killer, Venezuelan national Jose Antonio Ibarra, entered the United States illegally in 2022.
He was caught.
He was released.
He killed her.
The pattern is identical: Biden opens the border, releases criminals into sanctuary jurisdictions, and when those criminals kill Americans, Democrats blame Republicans for pointing it out.
Carolla captured the con perfectly – Pritzker would have howled that ICE was targeting a mere shoplifter.
Now that shoplifter is a murderer, and Pritzker is blaming the man trying to close the border.
Every parent in America who read about Sheridan Gorman knows exactly who failed her.
JB Pritzker built that failure one sanctuary policy at a time – and he still won't own it.
Sources:
- Jason Cohen, "Adam Carolla Savages 'Fat Idiot' JB Pritzker For Pinning Student's Murder By Illegal On Trump," Daily Caller News Foundation, March 26, 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.
- "Illegal Immigrant Charged With Killing Loyola Student Released Under Biden, DHS Says," Fox News, March 22, 2026.
- "Democrat Chicago Alderman Blasts JB Pritzker Over Blaming Trump for Murder by Illegal Alien," Daily Caller, March 25, 2026.
- "Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker Acknowledges 'Real Failures' in Immigration System After Loyola Student's Killing," Union-Bulletin/AP, March 24, 2026.
- "Loyola Student Paper Called Murder Suspect 'Illegal' – Then Apologized," Daily Wire, March 25, 2026.
