A man charged with murder in the deadly shooting of Loyola University Chicago first-year student Sheridan Gorman is facing a new felony charge after he was found with a weapon while in jail awaiting trial, authorities said.
Cook County jail staff discovered Jose Medina, a 26-year-old Venezuelan immigrant, had a 6-inch shank in his pants pocket on Thursday morning when they searched him after learning he was in possession of a weapon, Cook County Sheriff’s Office said.
The shank was described as a “sharpened piece of metal with a handle fashioned out of medical tape,” authorities said.
A felony charge of possession of contraband in a penal institution was approved against Medina by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office on Friday.
Medina has been in jail custody since March 23, officials said.
He is facing first-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons charges for allegedly shooting 18-year-old Gorman in her back as she and her friends were walking on the lakefront in Rogers Park near the Loyola campus in March.
He pled not guilty to the crimes in late April in a hearing packed with Gorman’s family and friends.
The man suspected of killing Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman was ordered to be detained pre-trial in a court hearing on Friday. NBC Chicago’s Courtney Sisk reports.
Prosecutors said Medina jumped out wearing a mask and holding a gun before firing a single shot as the group tried to run away, striking Gorman in her back and killing her.
Video evidence helped detectives trace Medina back to his apartment, prosecutors said. Police said they found a gun wrapped in a ski mask near his bed while searching the unit.
Medina’s public defenders said he has a developmental disability from when he was shot in the head during an earlier robbery in Colombia after he fled Venezuela.
He was detained after reaching the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas before ultimately making his way to Chicago in 2023. Though he requested to be deported back to Colombia, officials in Texas bused him to Chicago, his public defenders said. He also had an active warrant for a 2023 shoplifting case when he was arrested in connection to Gorman’s murder. He’s aso facing charges for possessing a pistol while being unlawfully present in the United States.
