The husband of an Irish bishop’s housekeeper has been arrested in connection with the bishop’s murder in Los Angeles.
David O’Connell, a prominent liberal bishop, was shot on Saturday in Los Angeles.
Carlos Medina, 65, the husband of O’Connell’s housekeeper, was arrested on Monday morning for the murder of the 69-year-old. Police said a source tipped them off that Medina claimed O’Connell owed him money.
“This bishop made a huge difference in our community,” Sheriff Robert G Luna said in a press conference on Monday. “He’s been a pillar in our community; known as a peacemaker, serving those in need.”
Surveillance footage showed a dark-coloured SUV approaching the bishop’s residence in Hacienda Heights before the murder and leaving shortly after. According to the sheriff, Medina’s wife would drive a similar car when she went to work at O’Connell’s.
After the shooting, Medina allegedly left for central California and returned to his home at about 2am on Monday. He was taken into custody at 8am.
Detectives found two firearms in Medina’s home, as well as other evidence possibly linking Medina to the crime, Luna said. The firearms will be tested by the police’s crime lab to verify if they were used in the murder.
Luna said Medina’s wife was cooperating with the investigation.
O’Connell was found at about 1pm on Saturday with a gunshot wound. Sheriff’s deputies were called to the area for a report of a medical emergency.
Mourners gathered outside O’Connell’s’ home over the weekend, laying candles and flowers at the intersection in front of his residence.
O’Connell was born and raised in Ireland, and advocated for immigrant and disadvantaged communities during his time in Los Angeles, where he was ordained as a priest in 1979.
The former mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti described O’Connell as a “longtime peacemaker and fighter for justice” in a tweet on Sunday. “This city has lost one of its most beautiful angels,” he said.
O’Connell studied at All Hallows College in Dublin before moving to Los Angeles four decades ago. He served as a pastor at several parishes before Pope Francis appointed him the city’s auxiliary bishop on 21 June 2015.
He also served as chair of the Southern California Immigration Task Force, which lobbies for immigration reform.
Catholic churches in Ireland have held prayers for O’Connell. RTÉ reported that Father Damian O’Mahony told the congregation at the Sacred Heart church in Glounthaune, a County Cork village where O’Connell had served as an altar boy, that he would be fondly remembered.
“A native of this parish of Glounthaune, who was baptised here in this church in 1953, so brutally killed and murdered in his home in Los Angeles, we pray for him at this time, for all the good work he has done as priest and bishop,” he said.
O’Mahony said it was a time of heartbreak, shock and tears for those who had known the bishop. “A man who never lost touch with his Cork roots. Even though he was on the other side of the world, his heart was here I suppose in Cork, particularly in Glounthaune parish.”
Prayers were said at other churches in the diocese of Cork and Ross. A memorial service is to take place.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
