A Venezuelan migrant was arrested in connection with the execution-style murder of a New York teen on a night stroll with friends near Loyola University Chicago’s campus on Thursday, according to reports.
The 25-year-old man, who hasn’t been officially charged, is accused of approaching 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, of Yorktown Heights, NY, at the Loyola Beach Pier before firing the fatal shot from behind.
The unidentified suspect was wearing black clothes and a black mask when he allegedly killed the first-year Loyola University Chicago student at around 1:30 a.m., the Chicago Tribune reported.
A bystander witnessed the gunman fire a single shot at Gorman before she could run away.
Nearby surveillance footage captured the suspect walking on West Pratt Boulevard — north of the private Jesuit institution — before entering a nearby apartment building minutes later, where internal cameras recorded him without his mask on, according to an arrest report obtained by the outlet.
Officials were able to identify the gunman because of a “distinct limp,” the outlet reported.
The man was identified as a migrant from Venezuela, Fox News reported. His legal status and how long he’s been in the US were not immediately known.
The suspect had only one prior arrest in Cook County, a shoplifting misdemeanor from a Macy’s in June 2023, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Sheridan was pronounced dead at the scene, with a gunshot wound to the back. No other injuries were reported in the shooting.
She was studying business at Loyola University Chicago.
Sheridan’s family said she had gone out with friends in the early hours of Thursday looking for the Northern Lights.
“She was exactly where she should have been — close to campus, surrounded by friends, living her life,” her grieving family shared in a statement obtained by the outlet on Saturday, hours before news of the arrest.
“What happened to Sheridan cannot be reduced to the idea of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” the statement said. “This is not an abstraction. This is the loss of a daughter. The loss of a sister. The loss of a future filled with milestones that will now never come. Our family is forever changed.”
Gorman was active in Loyola’s “Cru” Christian group and had recently traveled to Indianapolis with fellow members.
Her social media account was filled with celebratory pictures of herself enjoying her first year at the Chicago school, including one post from March 8 where she looked forward to “warmer days ahead.”
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