SUFFERN — The family of slain Westchester teen Sheridan Gorman took the stage at the Friday, May 22, Trump rally at Rockland County Community College, where they addressed crowds and gave an impassioned plea for justice.
Eighteen-year-old Gorman, a Yorktown High School graduate, was gunned down and killed on the streets of Chicago, where she attended Loyola University, on March 19.
‘Murdered in cold blood’
President Donald Trump introduced the Gormans to the energetic crowd on Friday, giving them the floor to discuss the impact Sheridan’s killing has had on them.
“Mother’s Day was just two weeks ago,” Jessica Gorman, Sheridan’s mother, said. “For most mothers, it meant flowers and cards and phone calls, or children coming home— for me it was heartache and tears.”
The suspect charged in the case, Jose Medina-Medina, is a Venezuelan national who was in the United States illegally at the time of the murder.
Thomas Gorman, Sheridan’s father, was clear on his stance: the family supports legal immigration. “Legal immigration has made America stronger,” he said.
Thomas thanked Trump and Lawler for “fighting for policies that put the safety of children and American citizens first.”
Thomas asked the crowd to not feel sorry for the Gorman family, but instead “remember Sheridan’s name and stand with us,” and demand laws be enforced to cooperate with law enforcement and keep borders secure.
Suspect in Gorman’s murder pleads ‘not guilty’
Medina pleaded “not guilty” to first-degree murder and federal gun charges on April 29 in a Chicago courtroom, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
In a statement given to CBS News, Medina’s public defender said that he had been robbed and shot in the head in 2019 in Colombia, and that he “survived but lost a portion of his brain and skull, leaving him with the mental capacity of a child.”
In an interview with CBS, the Gormans disputed the public defender’s assessment, noting that Medina had allegedly been wearing a mask at the time of the shooting.
At the Friday Trump rally in Rockland County, Thomas said: “Sheridan should have come home, and because she did not, we will spend the rest of our lives fighting, so that someone else’s daughter can.”
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: ‘Protecting our people is not politics’ Gormans say at Trump rally
Reporting by Ashley Catherine Fontones, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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