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A illegal immigrant from Venezuela charged in the March killing of Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman was caught with a weapon while in custody, police said.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office said Cook County Jail staff found a 6-inch shank in Jose Medina’s possession around 8 a.m. Thursday.
Correctional officers searched the 26-year-old and recovered a sharpened piece of metal with a handle fashioned out of medical tape from his pants pocket, the sheriff’s office said.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved a new felony charge of possession of contraband in a penal institution against Medina on Friday.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ACCUSED OF KILLING CHICAGO COLLEGE STUDENT TO FACE COURT AFTER TUBERCULOSIS DELAY
The man charged with the murder of a Loyola University freshman in a Rogers Park shooting in March was found with a weapon in jail, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office said. (Cook County Sheriff’s Office)
Medina has been in custody since March 23. He is charged with shooting 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman to death at Tobey Prinz Beach in Rogers Park on March 19.
Medina has pleaded not guilty to charges in Gorman’s killing. His next court date is June 1.
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Sheridan Gorman was shot and killed while walking with friends near Tobey Prinz Beach, less than a mile from the Illinois campus, around 1 a.m. on Thursday, March 19. (Sheridan G. Gorman via Instagram)
Gorman was with friends at a Rogers Park pier when she looked around a lighthouse and saw Medina nearby.
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She walked back toward her friends and mouthed, “There’s a man behind the lighthouse,” prosecutors said. Medina then allegedly began chasing them.
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As Gorman and her friends ran away, Medina shot her in the upper back, according to prosecutors. Her friends kept running until they found a place to hide. When they returned to check on Gorman, she was unresponsive.
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An arrest report obtained by Fox News Digital states that Medina was seen on video after the shooting in the lobby of his apartment building, waiting for an elevator without a mask. A building engineer told police he recognized the suspect, who had a “very distinct limp and gait.”
Jose Medina, a Venezuelan national, was arrested for shoplifting and released before the alleged murder, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed. (DHS)
Fox News Digital previously reported that Medina was apprehended at the southern border in 2023, flagged as a flight risk and determined to have no valid asylum claim before being released into the U.S. that year under the Biden administration.
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Records indicate he did not have a valid U.S. address or identification and could not provide a verifiable point of contact.
Fox News Digital’s Adam Sabes contributed to this report.