A Venezuelan immigrant facing charges for the murder of Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman was discovered with a hidden weapon inside the Chicago detention center where he is being held for trial.
Authorities at the Cook County Jail apprehended 26-year-old Jose Medina-Medina with a concealed 6-inch shank during a search on Thursday, as reported by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office to NBC Chicago.
The discovery came shortly after jail staff received tips indicating that Medina was in possession of the improvised weapon, prompting a thorough pat-down conducted just after 8 a.m.
The weapon, described by officials as a “sharpened piece of metal with a handle wrapped in medical tape,” was confiscated during the search.
Following the incident, Medina was formally charged with possession of contraband in a penal institution, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Officials have not disclosed any potential intentions Medina might have had for the shank prior to its seizure.
Gorman, a freshman at the private Jesuit university, was fatally shot during a random attack while she was searching for the northern lights with a group of friends near campus in the early morning of March 19.
Medina allegedly jumped at the group while wearing a mask and fired a single shot, striking the 18-year-old Yorktown Heights, NY-native in the back.
Medina was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, three counts of aggravated assault/discharge of a firearm, and aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon.
He was booked into the Cook County Jail on March 23, where he has been held without bond since.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and would face a maximum sentence of life in prison with no parole after Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011.
Medina’s defense attorney argued he’s cognitively challenged from a previous gunshot wound to the head he suffered during a robbery while he was living in Colombia with his mother.
The injury left Medina with a part of his brain missing and forced him to relearn basic functions like walking and talking, the defense attorney claimed.
“Today he has the brain development of a child,” lawyer Julie Koehler told a judge during Medina’s arraignment.
Gorman’s parents blasted the failed policies that allowed their daughter’s alleged killer to illegally enter the country in 2019 and walk free around the streets before the murder.
“I don’t care what side of the aisle politically people are on, or if you’re right in the middle like us. This can’t happen. We’ve got to make changes,” Sheridan Gorman’s mother, Jessica, told “CBS Mornings” in April.
“There’s definitely policies that contributed to this happening and we can’t save Sheridan but we can’t just not do anything,” Thomas Gorman added during the interview.
