A late-night walk to the lakefront ended in a shooting that jolted a campus and quickly turned into a closely watched murder case.

CHICAGO, Ill. — Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago freshman, was shot and killed near Tobey Prinz Beach early March 19 after a masked gunman approached her group on foot and fired, according to police and university officials.

The killing landed with unusual force because it struck close to Loyola’s Lake Shore campus and unfolded in a place students know as part of the school’s daily landscape. Within days, Chicago police had arrested a 25-year-old man, Jose Medina, and prosecutors had opened both a state murder case and, later, a federal gun case. Even with those charges filed, investigators have said the motive remains unclear, leaving basic questions about why Gorman was targeted, or whether she was targeted at all, unsettled.

Police first described the attack as a predawn shooting in the 1000 block of West Pratt Boulevard, near the pier at Tobey Prinz Beach. Early reports said Gorman was walking with friends at about 1:30 a.m. when a man wearing dark clothing and a face covering approached and opened fire. Loyola later told students the shooting happened north of the Lake Shore Campus, and President Mark C. Reed called it “a tragic loss” in a message to the university community. By that evening, students, staff and neighbors had gathered for a vigil at Madonna della Strada Chapel, turning a day that began with a crime scene on the pier into one of public mourning. The school said there was no ongoing threat to campus based on the information available at the time.

As the investigation moved forward, court records and later reporting filled in more of the timeline. Prosecutors said Gorman had gone to the beach with friends to take photos of the skyline. After some in the group split off to look for a bathroom, Gorman reached the lighthouse area first, saw someone there and returned to her friends, prosecutors said. They allege a masked man then emerged, showed a gun and fired as the students ran. A court filing in the later federal gun case said witnesses reported that the shot struck Gorman in the back as she tried to flee. Prosecutors have also said the wound exited through her neck. One shell casing was recovered near the scene, and surveillance systems in the area captured the sound of a single gunshot at about 1:06 a.m., according to the federal complaint.

Investigators then began building the case through movement, video and physical evidence. The federal complaint says cameras recorded a man in black clothing and a black mask walking away from the beach with what witnesses described as a slow, distinct gait. Minutes later, according to that filing, video showed the same person moving through an alley and entering the rear of a North Sheridan Road building, then appearing unmasked in the lobby while holding a mask. A witness helping police review video said he recognized the man by that gait, the complaint says. Officers later executed a residential search warrant and recovered a Smith & Wesson SW40VE .40-caliber pistol, along with mail bearing Medina’s name, according to the same filing. Federal agents said a casing from the crime scene and a casing from a test fire of the recovered gun produced a presumptive ballistic match.

The case then shifted from emergency response to formal prosecution. Loyola told students on March 22 that a suspect had been brought in by police on the night of March 20 and charged two days later with Gorman’s murder. Chicago police said Medina, 25, was charged with first-degree murder. A later federal filing said he was also facing attempted murder, three counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon in Cook County court. On March 27, a judge ordered him detained pretrial. Then on April 2, federal prosecutors announced a separate charge alleging Medina, described in that filing as a Venezuelan citizen without lawful status in the United States, illegally possessed the handgun found in the Rogers Park apartment. That federal count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted.

For Loyola students, the case has unfolded in public and in deeply personal ways. Some heard about the shooting in campus emails. Others attended the vigil just hours after police tape came down near the lakefront. Gorman, who was from New York, was remembered by relatives and classmates as a young woman at the start of college life, only months into her freshman year. Her family later said she had “her entire life ahead of her,” and fellow students questioned how a familiar stretch near campus could become the site of such sudden violence. Reed told the campus community that members should not feel they had to “navigate this alone,” reflecting how quickly the criminal case and the grieving process began moving side by side.

The case now stands with Medina charged in state court and facing a related federal gun allegation, while investigators and prosecutors continue working through evidence and motive. The next milestones are the ongoing Cook County murder proceedings and any scheduled federal court appearance tied to the firearm complaint.

Author note: Last updated April 13, 2026.