ROGERS PARK — Police are questioning a person of interest in the shooting death of Loyola University freshman Sheridan Gorman, officials said Saturday.
About 1:30 a.m. Thursday, Gorman was with a group of friends on the pier at Tobey Prinz Beach in Loyola Park, a few blocks north of campus, when a man walked up to them and opened fire, officials said. The gunman was wearing a mask, Thomas Murray, Loyola’s director of campus safety, said the day of the attack.
Chicago Police confirmed to Block Club on Saturday that they are questioning a person of interest in the case, but would not provide further information.
The Tribune obtained an arrest report, stating that surveillance video showed the suspect after the shooting walking to Pratt Boulevard, and they were able to identify him because of his “distinct limp.”
The suspect’s name has not been released as he has not been charged.
Flowers are affixed to the fencing of a lighthouse on the Loyola Beach pier near Tobey Prinz Beach Park on Thursday, March 19, 2026. The memorial honors 18-year-old Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman, who was fatally shot at the location earlier that morning while walking with friends. Credit: Victor Hilitski for Block Club Chicago
Gorman was a freshman in Loyola’s business school from New York State. She was involved in campus religious groups and devoted herself to charity, friends and family said at a vigil Thursday night at Loyola’s Madonna della Strada Chapel.
“She was always the first person who would hug me at a group, and she was always the last person, too,” said Kim Johnson, a faculty member who assisted Gorman in Bible study and the Christian organization Cru. “That’s the kind of person Sheridan was.”
Gorman was descibed a vibrant, generous person who was dedicated to her faith and always had a smile on her face.
During the vigil, her mother, Jessica Gorman, stood at the altar, removed her maroon Loyola cap and joked that her daughter “would hate to see that my hair is a mess.”
“When I woke up this morning, I didn’t feel her presence,” Jessica Gorman said. “I didn’t feel her at all on the trip here from New York. But now I know she was here, with you all. She loved this place, and it didn’t take her long to find her people. … She was beautiful, inside and out.”
Jessica Gorman called on law enforcement and officials to get justice for her daughter.
Sheridan Gorman “was murdered,” she said. “I really hate saying this, but Chicago, we trusted you with our hearts and you betrayed us. … We need answers. We need accountability, and we will not stop until the person who did this is found and locked up.”
This is a developing story.
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast: