Venezuelan Migrant Arrested After Chicago Student Fatally Shot Near Campus
A masked gunman shot and killed an 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago student along the city’s lakefront shortly after 1:30 a.m. Thursday, while she was walking with friends. The gunman struck Sheridan Gorman, a resident of Westchester County, New York, in the head, causing her death at the scene.
There is a 25-year-old man in jail for her death who is a Venezuelan migrant, according to Fox News.
The Chicago Tribune obtained records indicating that a “distinct limp” led to the suspect’s discovery just minutes after the shooting. The Tribune didn’t say who the suspect was. Police haven’t said yet if the man has been charged in connection with the Gorman case.
In a letter sent to students on Thursday, Mark C. Reed, President of Loyola University Chicago, confirmed Gorman’s death.
“It is with profound sadness that I write to share that one of our students, Sheridan Gorman, was killed earlier today. This is a tragic loss, and our hearts go out to Sheridan’s family, loved ones, and all who knew her,” Reed wrote in the letter.
Sheridan Gorman was only 18 years old. She was walking along the lakefront with friends in the early morning. A man with a mask shot at her, and now her family in New York is planning a funeral instead of a summer visit.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filed an arrest detainer asking sanctuary politicians not to let Jose Medina-Medina go free.
Medina-Medina is a Venezuelan criminal illegal alien who was arrested for killing 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman in Chicago, Illinois.
The U.S. Border Patrol caught Medina-Medina on May 9, 2023, and the Biden administration let him into the country. He was arrested for shoplifting in Chicago, Illinois, and then let go again on June 19, 2023.
“Sheridan Gorman had her whole life ahead of her before this cold-blooded killer decided to end her life. She was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who RELEASED this illegal alien TWICE before he went on to commit this heinous murder,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis.
“We are calling on Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien from jail back into American neighborhoods,” Bis added.
In December 2025, ICE Director Todd Lyons wrote to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and asked him to put the safety of Americans first and honor ICE arrest warrants for more than 4,000 criminal illegal aliens in the state’s custody, including murderers, sexual predators, and people who have been convicted of or charged with weapons offenses.
The pace of ICE arrests nationwide has topped 1,100 per day on average this year, far higher than the rate last spring of roughly 600 arrests per day, according to new data reviewed by the New York Times.
“New data analyzed by The New York Times reveals that the pace of these arrests has varied across the country in sometimes surprising ways. Some places that did not have high-profile ICE operations this year, such as Florida and San Antonio, have still seen high and steadily increasing numbers of arrests,” the article stated.
“In other areas like Los Angeles and Chicago that were targeted by ICE with aggressive enforcement operations last year, the number of arrests has fallen steeply in recent months. And in some areas — notably many places with so-called sanctuary policies in place — the arrest rate is flat, or up only slightly.
The article added, “The administration’s high-profile operation in Minnesota this year, resulted in a steep increase in arrests there: ICE’s St. Paul field office arrested more than 5,000 people from mid-December through March 10. But four other field offices arrested more people during this same time period, led by the Miami area — with nearly 10,000 arrests — followed by the field offices in Dallas, Atlanta, and San Antonio.”
Nearly 150,000 California Mail Ballots Rejected In Primary
California election officials are examining why nearly 150,000 mail-in ballots were rejected during the state’s June primary, with late-arriving ballots accounting for most of the increase.
The higher rejection rate comes despite years of election law changes designed to make voting more accessible and ensure more ballots are ultimately counted.
According to data compiled by the California Secretary of State’s office, 148,241 mail-in ballots were rejected during the June primary, representing 1.73% of all mail ballots returned.
That marks an increase from the 2024 primary, when 108,982 ballots were rejected, or 1.56% of all mail ballots cast.
The largest reason for rejection was ballots arriving too late to qualify under California law.
State data shows that 93,479 ballots were rejected because they failed to meet the state’s deadline requirements.
California allows mail ballots to arrive up to seven days after Election Day, provided they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
Voting experts believe many of the rejected ballots received postmarks dated after Election Day, making them ineligible to be counted even if they arrived within the seven-day grace period.
Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said the timing of postal processing appears to be a significant concern.
“Ballots rejected due to lateness are caused primarily to being postmarked too late to count, not because they arrived too late to count,” Alexander said.
Election experts have questioned whether recent operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service may be contributing to delayed postmarks.
Earlier this year, a group of mostly Democratic U.S. senators wrote to the Postal Service expressing concern that mail-processing changes could affect ballot handling during federal elections.
Updated Postal Service procedures mean postmarks may reflect when mail is processed at regional facilities rather than when it first enters the mail system.
Because processing centers have been consolidated in some areas, election officials have warned that postmark timing could be affected.
Before the June primary, California election officials encouraged voters to mail ballots as early as possible because of potential postal delays.
The June election also featured a highly competitive race for governor, which some experts believe encouraged many voters to wait until the final days before casting ballots.
In addition to late-arriving ballots, approximately 44,000 ballots were rejected because election officials determined the voter’s signature did not match the signature on file.
Another 8,300 ballots were rejected because the return envelope did not contain a signature.
State records also show that 743 ballots were rejected because those voters had already cast another ballot.
Other rejected ballots involved missing ballots inside return envelopes or multiple ballots submitted in a single envelope.
The highest rejection rate in the state occurred in Tulare County, where 3.52% of returned mail ballots were rejected.
Alpine County and Merced County followed closely, each recording rejection rates of 3.36%.
California has frequently faced criticism for taking weeks to complete vote counting after major elections, largely because state law permits ballots meeting certain requirements to continue arriving after Election Day.
Following the June primary, President Donald Trump again criticized California’s election system, while the Department of Justice opened an investigation into election administration in Los Angeles County.
Election experts emphasize that the increase in rejected ballots should not be interpreted as evidence of widespread voter fraud.
A 2025 report by the Brookings Institution found documented cases of mail ballot fraud remained extremely rare, estimating roughly four cases for every 10 million mail ballots cast, The Associated Press reported.
State officials have not identified evidence of widespread fraud connected to the June primary, but the increase in rejected ballots is expected to receive additional scrutiny as election administrators evaluate whether changes in postal operations, voter behavior or election procedures contributed to the higher rejection rate.
