On the night of March 19, 2026, a young woman with her whole life ahead of her was walking along the Chicago lakefront with friends, enjoying the kind of ordinary evening that college students everywhere take for granted.
Just after 1:30 a.m., near the pier at Tobey Prinz Beach in the Rogers Park neighborhood, a masked gunman approached the group and opened fire. Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old freshman at Loyola University Chicago, was struck once in the head. She died at the scene.
The violence was sudden, senseless, and devastating. Sheridan had come to Chicago from Yorktown Heights, New York, a suburban town about 40 miles north of Manhattan, where she was born and raised. She arrived at Loyola full of excitement for the new chapter ahead, eager to build a life in a new city, to make friends, to study, to discover who she wanted to become.
In her short time on campus, she had already begun to do just that. Those who knew her describe a young woman with a warm spirit and a natural ability to connect with others. She was the kind of person who made friends easily because she genuinely cared about the people she met.
The shooting occurred in the 6700 block of North Lakefront, a stretch of Rogers Park that runs along the water. Sheridan was with a group of friends when the gunman approached on foot and began firing. The attack appeared targeted, though police have not released details about a possible motive or suspect. Sheridan was the only one struck. Her friends were unharmed physically, but they will carry the weight of that night forever.
At Loyola, a private Jesuit university with its main campus along the lake in Rogers Park, the news hit hard. Students gathered in small groups, struggling to process how someone so young, so new to their community, could be taken so suddenly. The university announced that counseling services would be available for students grappling with the loss.
A vigil has been scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Madonna della Strada Chapel, the iconic lakeside church on Loyola’s campus. The chapel, with its sweeping views of the water, will provide a sacred space for reflection, prayer, and collective remembrance. Friends, classmates, and faculty will gather to honor Sheridan’s short but luminous presence among them, to hold one another up, and to begin the long work of grieving together.
Back in Yorktown Heights, a community that watched Sheridan grow up is reeling. She was a daughter, a sister, a friend, a young woman who had just begun to spread her wings. Her family has asked for privacy as they navigate this incomprehensible loss, while also expressing gratitude for the outpouring of support from both New York and Chicago.
The investigation remains active. Chicago police are canvassing the area for surveillance footage and witnesses, hoping to identify the gunman who approached on foot and fled into the night. No arrests have been announced.
Sheridan Gorman was 18 years old. She was a freshman at Loyola University Chicago, a daughter of Yorktown Heights, a friend to many, and a life cut short by violence that defies understanding. She came to Chicago full of hope, and in a single, senseless moment, that hope was taken. But the people who loved her will carry it forward, holding vigils, sharing memories, and refusing to let her light be extinguished by the darkness that took her.