The family of Sheridan Gorman is pushing back on comments from Chicago and Illinois leaders, saying her killing was not a “senseless tragedy” and demanding accountability for what they call systemic failures.

18-year-old Gorman was killed on March 19 at around 1:06 a.m. while she was with friends at a pier on the city’s Rogers Park area. Officials say that Jose Medina-Medina, 25, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, allegedly fired one shot at the Loyola University Chicago student, killing her. Medina-Medina was apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol on May 9, 2023, and was released into the U.S. under the Biden administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The Gorman family on Wednesday released a statement criticizing both Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, saying that her death “demands accountability.”

“What happened to Sheridan cannot be reduced to a ‘senseless tragedy,’ nor can it be explained in general terms about public safety. Sheridan was our daughter. She was 18 years old. She was doing something entirely normal—walking near her campus with friends. She should be here,” the Gorman family said regarding recent comments by Johnson.

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“Calling this ‘senseless’ is not enough. There must be a clear and honest accounting of what went wrong,” the family added. “We will not allow Sheridan’s life to be reduced to a talking point or a generalization. We expect leadership that is willing to confront hard truths and ensure that what happened to her does not happen again.”

Gorman’s family also responded to Gov. Pritzker’s recent comments on the freshman college student’s death, writing that “calling this a tragedy is not enough.”

“Sheridan’s death cannot be reduced to a general “tragedy,” nor can it be explained away by broad references to failures somewhere else. Sheridan was a daughter, a sister, and a young woman whose life was taken in a way that should never have been possible,” the family said. “We are not interested in political arguments or in watching responsibility shift from one place to another. If there were failures—as the Governor himself has acknowledged—then every one of them must be identified, examined, and addressed directly. The location of those failures matters less than the willingness to confront them honestly.”

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“Our daughter is not a policy debate. She is a life that was taken, and that demands accountability,” they added.

Pritzker on Tuesday shifted blame to the Trump administration during an event, according to the Chicago Tribune.

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“This has been a terrible tragedy, and I know that the Gorman family has suffered mightily… There have been real failures. Those failures, of course, extend beyond the borders of Illinois. That’s their national failures, a failure to have comprehensive immigration reform, a failure of the president to follow his own edict to go after the worst of the worst,” Pritzker said. 

Johnson on Tuesday also addressed Gorman’s death, saying that her life was taken due to “senseless violence,” but called out President Trump as well.

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“There’s no words that one could express that could properly console a family that lost their baby. And my condolences to the Gorman family,” Johnson said. “You know what the bigger threat to our public safety, it’s illegal weapons that are being trafficked from bordering states that voted for Donald Trump. This president refuses to be held accountable. And he points the finger at everything and everyone else versus doing some real self-reflection on what his responsibility is.”

“We know that this president has not taken this situation in this challenge in our country seriously, because my question would be, isn’t it time for the president of the United States of America in Congress to actually act and pass comprehensive immigration reform?” Johnson continued.

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“There’s no words that one could express that could properly console a family that lost their baby. And my condolences to the Gorman family,” Johnson said. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, White House Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said President Donald Trump’s immigration policies have kept Americans safe.

“In record time, President Trump has totally secured the border, ended Biden’s border crisis, and deported countless dangerous criminal illegal aliens. Those are real solutions that keep the American people safe. Meanwhile, slobs like Pritzker have constantly defended dangerous criminal illegal aliens and attempted to obstruct the important work of the Trump Administration. Pritzker’s policies make the American people less safe,” Jackson said.

Homes in Yorktown Heights, New York, Gorman’s hometown, were lit up in green on Tuesday night to honor the slain Chicago college student. according to CBS News.

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An arrest report obtained by obtained by Fox News Digital shows that Medina-Medina was seen on security video in his apartment building’s lobby waiting for an elevator while unmasked after the alleged shooting. A building engineer told police that he knew the suspect, who had a “very distinct limp and gait.” 

Police said Medina-Medina was wearing a black mask and black clothing as he walked away from the shooting, noting that he had a “distinct limp and slow gait.” He was seen walking from the location of the shooting to Pratt Boulevard at 1:12 a.m. Just a few minutes later, the individual was seen walking northbound through the east alley of Sheridan Road before he entered the back of his apartment complex.

Images of the suspect were sent to a police database, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection identified the suspect as Medina-Medina. He was arrested at his apartment in Rogers Park, according to the arrest report.

Medina-Medina told officials in 2023 that he was living at Leone Beach Park fieldhouse in Rogers Park in 2023, which was being used as a city-sponsored shelter for migrants. The shelter closed in 2024, according to South Side Weekly.

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson and Pritzker’s office.

The Trump administration has made new criminal referrals to the Department of Justice targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James, Fox News has confirmed.

The referrals, submitted by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, allege potential insurance fraud tied to properties linked to James and have been sent to U.S. attorneys in Florida and, reportedly, Illinois for review.

“The Department of Justice can confirm that referrals were received by our U.S. Attorney Offices,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News.

One of the referrals obtained by Fox News alleged “suspected homeowners insurance fraud.”

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The criminal referral was transmitted to Jason Quinones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who will determine whether to move forward with a prosecution. His office would then need to seek a grand jury indictment.

The referral comes after bank fraud charges against James were dismissed late last year by a Clinton-appointed judge, and a grand jury in Virginia later refused to re-indict her.

The judge threw out the indictments against James and former FBI Director James Comey after finding they were illegitimate because they were brought by an unqualified U.S. attorney.

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In one of the criminal referrals, Pulte said it appears that James “may have falsified information on her homeowners insurance application” to a Fort Lauderdale-based company, Universal Property Insurance.

The referral cites social media posts from Mike Davis, a longtime attorney and ally to President Donald Trump.

Pulte stated that based on the post from Davis, the New York attorney general “may have made false representations that her property would be unoccupied five months out of the year.”

According to the post, that information may be false, Pulte said.

“The house was, in fact, occupied year-round by her niece,” he continued.

“As such, it appears Ms. James may have defrauded the Florida-based insurance company,” Pulte added.

Fox News Digital has reached out to James’ office and her attorney for comment.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors was confronted with a heated public comment this week as conservative independent journalist Darren Stallcup warned that “Nick Shirley’s coming to town,” tying the visit to broader concerns over child fentanyl deaths, crime, and homelessness.

“This week, a 2-year-old child overdosed and died on fentanyl in San Francisco,” the speaker said before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. “This is not the first child who’s died from fentanyl in our city, and unfortunately, it probably won’t be the last.”

The remarks come as San Francisco continues to grapple with a years-long fentanyl crisis that has driven thousands of overdose deaths. City data and public health reporting have documented a sharp rise in fentanyl-related fatalities since 2019, with the synthetic opioid now the leading cause of overdose deaths in the city.

Officials also face ongoing scrutiny over public safety conditions, open-air drug use, and homelessness across major corridors and neighborhoods.

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“Walking around downtown San Francisco today, I see outside of our schools and playgrounds… just everywhere you look are the signs of the decline of Western civilization,” Stallcup said, pointing to visible drug activity and street conditions.

In the address, the speaker characterized fentanyl trafficking as part of a broader international pipeline.

“Fentanyl is a form of chemical warfare on the American people. It comes from China, across the southern border into our community, big cities and small towns.”

He argued the crisis is driven by international trafficking networks, linking the flow of fentanyl into U.S. communities to broader cross-border dynamics.

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“I love immigrants. I believe they’re some of the best people in the world,” the speaker added. “Unfortunately, there are fentanyl dealers here in our community, transnational narco-terrorists who are exploiting and taking advantage of our sanctuary city.”

Stallcup’s comments also referenced the scale of fatalities in San Francisco over recent years.

“Five thousand people of all races and religions have died from fentanyl in San Francisco between the years 2019 [and] 2026, including many of my family and friends,” Stallcup noted.

Stallcup further criticized local leadership and spending priorities tied to homelessness programs.

“Corrupt, far-left Democrats such as yourselves have enabled chaos and lawlessness for financial gain via fentanyl through corrupt nonprofits… that benefit from the suffering of the less fortunate on the streets,” he said.

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“We are on the 20th-year anniversary of Gavin Newsom’s ten-year plan to solve homelessness. Billions of dollars have been spent only for the situation to get worse,” Stallcup added, saying he had dealt with multiple break-ins.

“Nick Shirley’s coming to town next week, and you guys will all be under the magnifying glass,” Stallcup said.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Stallcup did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.