Federal prosecutors have filed a gun charge against a 25-year-old man accused of killing 18-year-old Loyola University freshman Sheridan Gorman in Rogers Park, describing the case as a safeguard to ensure he is not released while the state murder case proceeds.
In a criminal complaint revealed Thursday, authorities charged Jose Medina with illegally possessing a firearm as a person unlawfully in the United States. The charge stems from a March 20 search of his North Side apartment, where Chicago police recovered a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun, according to the filing.
Medina remains detained in the Cook County Jail on state charges that include murder in the fatal shooting of Gorman one day before the search.
U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros made it clear that the federal filing is intended as a backstop.
“Given the senseless, cold-blooded nature of the murder of a young student with a bright future ahead of her, the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office will take no chances that this illegal alien perpetrator will be released back into our community,” Boutros said in a statement announcing the charge.
The federal complaint largely lays out information state prosecutors revealed regarding the investigation that led to Medina’s arrest: Surveillance video tracked the shooter to an apartment building in the 6800 block of North Sheridan Road, and facial recognition combined with witness identifications pegged Medina as the gunman.
A search of Medina’s apartment revealed a firearm wrapped in a ski mask, officials said, and testing by the ATF linked the gun to a shell casing found near Gorman’s body on the pier at Loyola Beach.
Federal authorities say Medina entered the country illegally near El Paso in May 2023, intending to go to
New Rochelle, NY. He was released from custody and wound up on a bus that shipped him to Chicago courtesy of the state of Texas.
The single-count federal charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted.
While the murder case will continue in Cook County court, the federal filing gives prosecutors an additional path to keep Medina locked up regardless of how the state proceedings unfold.
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