A North Side alderman is shuttering her office for three days, citing threats she received after comments she made in the wake of a Loyola University student’s murder in her ward went viral.
“To ensure we are available to the constituents of the 49th Ward and to protect the safety and wellness of my team, we have altered our operations for the remainder of this week,” Ald. Maria Hadden (49th) wrote in an email Wednesday afternoon. Her office will resume normal operations on Monday, she said.
Hadden’s decision came a day after she published a page-long explanation of comments she made in a Fox Chicago interview about the murder of Sheridan Gorman, 18, at the Loyola Beach pier that she said were “misconstrued” by “some media outlets.” Hadden further suggested “conservative news cycles” were partly to blame for the negative feedback.
In the clip that circulated widely this week, Hadden explained that the murder “might have been a wrong place, wrong time, running into a person who had a gun.” She went on to suggest that Gorman and her companions “might have startled [the murderer] at the end of the pier unintentionally.”
On Wednesday, Hadden blamed “conservative news cycles and social media groups … along with the high-profile nature of the tragedy” for “an overwhelming number of phone calls and emails to my office.”
“The majority of these communications are from out-of-state individuals who are angry about my comments and Chicago’s sanctuary city status. Our social media pages have also been inundated with negative reviews and hateful comments. The content of the phone messages and emails that my staff and I have been receiving is explicit and disturbing,” Hadden stated. “The messages and calls include threats of violence against myself, my family, and my team, including racist, misogynistic, and homophobic language. Additionally, many callers have been verbally abusive to my staff, making it difficult to serve the constituents of the 49th Ward.”
Hadden said “anti-immigrant, anti-sanctuary city” protesters and counterprotesters outside her office sparked a police response Tuesday. She said another protest is planned for Friday.
“We must respect the First Amendment rights of everyone, so if you encounter this group, do not engage in anything that could escalate into physical altercations,” Hadden wrote. “Though they may not represent the views and values of our community, we will always respect and uphold the civil liberties afforded to everyone in our nation by our Constitution.”
Prosecutors have charged 25-year-old Venezuelan national Jose Medina with Gorman’s murder, saying he shot her in the back as she ran away. Federal officials have said he was in the U.S. illegally. He is expected to be in court for a detention hearing at 26th and California on Friday.
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