The suspect in the lethal shooting of a Catholic bishop in Los Angeles was discovered Monday as the partner of the bishop’s housekeeper, authorities said.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna recognized the suspect in Saturday’s slaying of Bishop David O’Connell as Carlos Medina, 65, of close by Torrance.
The housekeeper was not implicated and was not publicly recognized.
Luna stated his office, dependable for investigating the homicide in the local community of Hacienda Heights, been given suggestions about Medina’s locale and a doable motive — which reported the gentleman believed O’Connell owed him income.
Luna mentioned protection movie confirmed an SUV similar to the one applied by the housekeeper temporarily in the driveway of the bishop’s home right before the murder. The suspect experienced performed “some work” at the home previously, he stated.
At minimum just one tipster was “concerned simply because Medina was acting odd, irrationally, and creating comments about the bishop owing him cash,” Luna claimed at a information convention Monday afternoon.
The suspect remaining Torrance for Central California, Luna stated, but detectives bought a idea that he had returned household, prompting a response to the home that turned into a standoff.
Tactical deputies with the Special Enforcement Bureau requested the suspect to exit the home, but he refused for an unspecified span of time Monday early morning, Luna said. He finally surrendered and was arrested without further incident, he mentioned.
A choose-approved lookup of the home turned up two guns and other evidence that could be tied to the crime, Luna stated.
On Saturday, sheriff’s deputies responded to the 1500 block of Janlu Avenue at 12:57 p.m. next a health care emergency simply call, authorities have explained.
O’Connell, 69, was uncovered with a gunshot wound and pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, the sheriff’s department mentioned.
O’Connell, who was at first from Eire, was a priest and later a bishop in Los Angeles for 45 decades, Angelus News, a Catholic news provider, documented.
Recognised fondly as “Bishop Dave,” O’Connell was the “episcopal vicar for the archdiocese’s San Gabriel Pastoral Area considering the fact that 2015, when Pope Francis named him an auxiliary bishop,” Angelus documented. O’Connell opted to assistance soothe tensions amongst inhabitants and law enforcement in southern Los Angeles.
“He was a peacemaker with a heart for the very poor and the immigrant, and he experienced a enthusiasm for setting up a community where the sanctity and dignity of just about every human lifestyle was honored and safeguarded,” Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles stated in a statement Saturday. “He was also a fantastic mate, and I will overlook him greatly.”
Luna vowed to help prosecute the suspect properly.
“This guy, this bishop, built a substantial variance in our local community,” Luna explained. “He was beloved.”
link