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A progressive Chicago lawmaker issued an apology Tuesday after facing backlash for suggesting a slain college student was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Last Thursday, Sheridan Gorman, 18, of Westchester County, New York, was shot and killed while walking with friends around 1:30 a.m. on Chicago’s lakeshore.
Alderwoman Maria Hayden drew outrage on social media after suggesting in an interview with Fox 32 Chicago that the Loyola University Chicago student was “in the wrong place at the wrong time” and might have “startled” the man who shot and killed her.
The local Democrat’s comments were described as insensitive and also drew backlash from Gorman’s family, who referenced his comments.
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Chicago Alderwoman Maria Hayden has been criticized online over her response to the murder of Sheridan Gorman. (End Wokeness via X/Sheridan G. Gorman via Instagram)
Hayden, a progressive ally of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, issued a statement Tuesday saying that her interview on Fox 32 “had gone viral on conservative media,” and that her comments were in response to a question comparing Gorman’s murder to a different 2018 case.
He said, “In an effort to understand a senseless situation, I said things that some people found offensive.” “My comments were never intended to blame the victim or to say that Sheridan should not have enjoyed the park or that it was his fault that he was shot.
Hayden continued, “In interviews, I did my best to share my limited information with our community as quickly as possible while helping allay people’s fears about the shooting.” “I sincerely apologize for any additional pain my comments may have caused.”
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Sheridan Gorman, a Loyola University student, was murdered in Chicago on March 19, 2026. (Sheridan G. Gorman via Instagram))
He further added, “The fact that some media outlets are deliberately creating sound bites to misinterpret my words during this tragedy is also unfortunate.”
Gorman’s family cited Hayden’s comments in a Fox 32 interview, saying that the slain college student “deserved the future that was stolen from him.”
“What happened to Sheridan cannot be minimized by the idea of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not an abstract thing. This is the loss of a daughter. The loss of a sister. The loss of a future full of milestones that will never come. Our family is forever changed.”
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New York native Sheridan Gorman was reportedly just months away from completing her freshman year at Loyola University Chicago in Illinois. (Sheridan G. Gorman via Instagram)
The family said: “We cannot accept a world where moments like this become something people become accustomed to. We cannot allow ourselves to become desensitized to violence. When we begin to accept these tragedies as inevitable, we all become desensitized to them. Indifference is not harmless – it allows these moments to be repeated.”
Jose Medina-Medina was arrested for Gorman’s murder.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Medina is an illegal immigrant who entered the US during the Biden administration before being caught and released into the country.
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The 25-year-old Venezuelan national was previously arrested in Chicago for shoplifting, DHS said.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
