Illegal immigrant accused of killing Loyola student is missing brain part, has ‘development of a child,’ defense claims

The man accused of murdering Loyola student Sheridan Gorman is being held without bail as his defense argues a prior brain injury has left him with the cognitive functional level of a child.

Jose Medina-Medina, a 25-year-old Venezuelan migrant accused of the “heartbreaking and senseless” fatal shooting of 18-year-old Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman, was ordered held without bail Friday as his defense revealed he is missing a portion of his brain from a previous gunshot wound. Prosecutors allege that Medina-Medina, who entered the U.S. in 2023, ambushed Gorman and her friends while they were viewing the northern lights on a Chicago pier, firing a single shot into the freshman’s back.

Defense attorney Julie Koehler argued that the defendant, who appeared via video while being treated for tuberculosis and epilepsy, suffered a traumatic brain injury during a robbery in Colombia that forced him to relearn basic motor skills. “Today he has the brain development of a child,” Koehler told the judge, while Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke vowed to hold the defendant “fully accountable” for the murder. Medina-Medina, who was identified by his own mother from surveillance footage, is currently being held in a Cook County Jail health facility to ensure he receives medical treatment and to prevent potential deportation by immigration officials.

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