CHICAGO CITY HALL (WBBM Newsradio) -- Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker are responding to Republicans' suggestion that Democratic policies led to the shooting death of a student at Loyola Chicago.
Prosecutors say the suspect in the March 20 fatal shooting of Sheridan Gorman near Tobey Prinz Beach, 1050 W. Pratt Blvd., is an undocumented Venezuelan national who came into the U.S. three years ago.
"This animal ... came in through (former President) Joe Biden and his 'open-door' policy," President Trump told reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida Monday. "These people were let in by Biden ... we're getting them out, we're getting them out fast ... that's why ICE is so important."
The President went on to criticize "radical-left Democrats," who he said "have hurt our country very badly."
At City Hall, Mayor Johnson told reporters Tuesday that he "cannot stop thinking" about the Gorman family: "My heart aches - and breaks - for this family. There's no words that one could express that could properly console a family that lost their baby."
And during an appearance in Springfield, Gov. Pritzker told reporters he'd reached out to intermediaries to express his condolences to the family: "The Gorman family has suffered mightily."
The governor admitted that the shooting exposed "failures" in the system: "Those failures of course extend beyond the border of Illinois ... they're national failures ... A failure to have comprehensive immigration reform."
The mayor echoed that sentiment, and pushed back on suggestions that state and city sanctuary policies were to blame by noting a rebuilding of trust between police and immigrant communities. He also said the fact that police were able to quickly identify and arrest a suspect showed that Chicago's systems are working.
"Anyone, regardless of their status ... if they commit a crime, they will be held accountable in Chicago," said the mayor.
Gov. Pritzker's Republican challenger in the fall election, former state Sen. Darren Bailey, released a statement that in part blames what he calls Pritzker's "soft-on-crime" policies, and called on the governor to work with the President to make Illinois families safer.
