Trump blames Biden policies for Sheridan Gorman's murder
President Donald Trump hit out at his predecessor's open border policies for the murder of 18-year-old college student Sheridan Gorman.
Gorman, a freshman at Loyola University, was fatally gunned down in the early morning hours on Thursday while walking with friends near the pier at Loyola Beach in Chicago.
José Medina-Medina, a 25-year-old Venezuelan man who illegally entered the country in May 2023, is now facing felony charges of first-degree murder and aggravated use of a firearm in connection with her death.
'Less than one week ago, a precious 18-year-old college student named Sheridan Gorman was shot and killed while walking in a park, innocently,' the president said at the National Republican Congressional Committee's annual fundraising dinner in DC.
'The illegal alien monster charged with Sheridan's murder had come illegally from Venezuela and had been released into our country by Sleepy Joe Biden,' he continued, calling his predecessor 'pathetic' and the 'worst president.'
Released Twice
He then went on to note that Medina-Media 'was then arrested again and released again by the Democrat Governor JB Pritzker, one of the worst governors in the history of our country, in the sanctuary city of Chicago.'
'Democrats politicians don't care about the American blood they spill in their very demented pursuit of these open borders,' Trump then argued, before vowing that Republicans would end sanctuary policies.
Medina-Medina had been apprehended by US Border Patrol during Biden's presidency on May 9, 2023, but was released into the US, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Just over a month later, on June 19, 2023, he was arrested in Chicago for allegedly shoplifting $132 worth of merchandise from a Macy's and was once again released.
Court records show he failed to appear for subsequent hearings, leading a judge to issue a warrant for his arrest. He was never apprehended on that warrant.
Blame-Shifting in Chicago
The president has previously called Gorman's death 'devastating.'
'These people were let in by Biden,' Trump told reporters on Monday.
'We're getting them out. We're getting them out fast. That's why ICE is so important. They're doing such a good job.'
Gorman's family has previously said they are also upset about the policies that have allowed Medina-Medina to remain in the country.
'We are gravely disappointed by the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime,' the family said in a statement to Fox News.
'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.'
But Governor Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have placed the blame back on Trump for failing to introduce comprehensive immigration reform.
National Failures
'This has been a terrible tragedy, and I know that the Gorman family has suffered mightily,' Pritzker said.
'There have been real failures. Those failures, of course, extend beyond the borders of Illinois. They’re national failures, a failure to have comprehensive immigration reform, a failure of the president to follow his own edict to go after the worst of the worst.'
'And in my view, we have a lot of work that we need to continue to do,' he added.
Progressive Chicago Mayor Johnson also hit out at Trump on Wednesday as he announced that a snowplow in the city would be named 'Abolish ICE.'
'What the Trump administration is doing and has done has nothing to do with immigration enforcement or safety. It doesn't,' Johnson continued.
'Ninety-five percent of the individuals that were detained by ICE were not the "worst of the worst" that he said he was going to go after, had no criminal record,' he claimed.
Matching Shell Casings and Maskless Images
It remains unclear why Medina-Medina may have opened fire on Gorman, but prosecutors have alleged he was hiding near the pier where Gorman and her friends were walking that morning, ABC 7 reports.
Surveillance footage from multiple cameras then caught the suspect wearing black clothing, a black mask and walking with a 'distinct limp and slow gait' from the scene of the shooting to his apartment building.
There, he was allegedly caught on surveillance footage without a mask on while waiting for an elevator.
Those images were then sent to a police database and US Customs and Border Protection identified the suspect as Medina-Medina.
He was taken into custody on Friday at his apartment building in Rogers Park, where authorities allegedly found the clothing he was said to be wearing during the shooting and a .40-caliber handgun that matched shell casings found at the scene.
Medina-Medina is now due to appear in court on Friday for a pretrial detention hearing, after his scheduled hearing on Monday was postponed while he remains in the hospital, where he is being treated for tuberculosis.
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