Dad of female student gunned down by illegal migrant blasts woke city after her accused killer was caught with makeshift blade behind bars

The family of a Chicago college student slammed the city after her accused killer was found with a makeshift blade while behind bars after allegedly gunning their daughter down. 

Jose Medina, the 25-year-old migrant accused of fatally shooting 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman - a first-year Loyola University Chicago student - on March 19, was allegedly caught with a knife while in custody. 

A six-inch shank, a makeshift sharp weapon, was discovered in Medina's possession while behind bars at Cook County Jail, the county sheriff's office said. 

'Correctional officers searched him and recovered a sharpened piece of metal with a handle fashioned out of medical tape from his pants pocket,' the sheriff's office added. 

The development stirred outrage among Gorman's family, who accused Medina's legal team of 'pretending' he is developmentally disabled. 

As a hearing on the murder case took place on Monday, mention of the weapon recovered from Medina was noticeably missing, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. 

'Correctional officers recovered the sharpened metal weapon from him after receiving information that other inmates feared for their safety,' Thomas Gorman, the  victim's father, said on Monday. 

'So let's stop pretending this man is harmless and has the mentality of a child. He was a danger outside and he is apparently a danger inside.'

The Venezuelan migrant's lawyers have argued that Medina suffers from a developmental disability due to a gunshot wound to the head during a robbery in Colombia, the outlet reported. 

Medina's legal defense claimed that he fled to Colombia from Venezuela due to violence, before he was detained at the border in Texas. 

Texas officials then bused the migrant to Chicago in 2023, despite his asking to be deported back to Colombia, his lawyers said, according to the outlet. 

His legal team has said the accused killer has the 'brain development of a child.'

Assistant Public Defender Julie Koehler said at the hearing that it is not an uncommon practice for inmates in Cook County Jail to feel the need to protect themselves. 

'[Medina] walks with a limp, suffers from seizures, is missing a portion of his brain and cannot read or write,' Koehler said. 

'He has recently been moved from the jail hospital into a more populated area, and any disabled person like him would be searching for a way to protect himself.'

Koehler noted the grieving family's emotional state from the 'tragic loss of their child,' and said they 'understandably' want her story to spark change. 

'But the sad reality is that Medina is severely disabled, and all the evidence supports that fact,' she added. 

Medina, who faces a first-degree murder charge as well as attempted murder and weapons charges related to Gorman's tragic death, pleaded not guilty last month. 

Gorman, a New York native, had been with friends at around 1.30am at the pier on Lake Michigan when Medina, who at the time had an active warrant for shoplifting, was seen by the group lurking in the dark, prosecutors alleged. 

The migrant, now facing an added charge of possessing contraband in jail, is then said to have fired at the young group one time as they ran, fatally striking Gorman in the back, they added. 

'Forty feet - that's how far my daughter ran for her life before evil caught her,' Gorman's mother, Jessica Gorman, said in an impact statement at Monday's hearing.

'Did she know that death was behind her? Was she crying out for me? I will never know. But I know my baby died scared.'

Gorman's parents said that their daughter had warned her friends of the danger before she was killed, likely saving the rest of the group. 

'Sheridan was a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance. Every Friday night was movie night and we spent wonderful times together,' the family said in an earlier statement.

'We love her very much and she always told us that she loved us. We miss her deeply. All we want is justice.'

They have described her as someone who 'made people feel seen, safe and loved,' and said the trust they had in her safety was shattered.

Gorman's father has criticized 'broken' immigration and legal systems for contributing to his daughter's death. 

'Jose Medina is responsible for what he did to Sheridan, but he did not get to Sheridan himself,' he said, the Sun-Times reported. 

'He got there through a broken system, through failed border enforcement, failed removal policies, failed local cooperation, and sanctuary policies that put ideology before safety.'

'Let me be very clear about something: We love immigrants,' he added. 'We deeply respect legal immigration.

'But criminal illegal immigration is different, and American families deserve to be protected in their own country.'

The killing has drawn the attention of President Donald Trump, who took the opportunity to publicly blame former President Joe Biden's immigration policies for allowing Medina to remain in the country.

'A precious 18-year-old college student named Sheridan Gorman was shot and killed while walking in a park, innocently,' Trump said during remarks last month at the National Republican Congressional Committee's annual fundraising dinner.

'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, while also criticizing Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago's sanctuary city policies.

Trump later called the killing 'devastating'. 'These people were let in by Biden… We're getting them out fast,' he promised.

Officials in Illinois have pushed back, with Governor Pritzker describing the case as a 'terrible tragedy' while arguing that failures extend beyond the state and reflect broader national issues, including the lack of comprehensive immigration reform.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also criticized federal enforcement priorities, saying they do not reflect public safety realities.

'I don't care what side of the aisle politically people are on, or is right in the middle like us. This can't happen. We've got to make changes,' Jessica Gorman told CBS News.

Medina is set to return to court on July 7. 

The Daily Mail reached out to the Cook County Sheriff's Office for comment.