The murder of David O'Connell, the priest
anointed by Pope Francis
as auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, continues to shock the religious community of that city in the southwestern United States.
Now, the mystery of the murder seems to be beginning to clear up, with the arrest of the
husband of the housekeeper who worked in the
O'Connell house.
The 69-year-old bishop was found dead this Saturday at his Hacienda Heights home, where he lived alone.
They found him on the bed, shot in the torso and
blood still oozing
from the wound.
There were no signs of a violent break-in
at the place.
The finding was made by a deacon who, around 1 p.m., went to check if O'Connell, who lived a few blocks from St. John Vianney Church, was okay after he did not show up for a
meeting
.
Initially the death was investigated as "suspicious", but later it was classified as a homicide.
One of the posters honoring David O'Connell, the Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles.
AP Photo
The Catholic and immigrant community, in which the Irishman O'Connell had a strong influence, plunged into grief and doubt over the death of the bishop in recent hours.
Now, a new twist seems to shed light on what happened.
Who is the man arrested for the murder of the bishop of Los Angeles
A SWAT
team
was deployed Monday in the Torrance area, about 55 kilometers southwest of Hacienda Heights, the neighborhood where the religious leader was found dead.
From the operation, by
a "entrenched and armed" individual
, the arrest arose that could solve the mystery of the homicide.
Security forces arrested a man, who was identified as
Carlos Medina
.
He is the
husband of O'Connell's housekeeper.
While Sheriff Robert Luna claimed he is 65, police records state he is 61.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna confirmed the arrest of a suspect in the death of Bishop David O'Connell.
AP Photo
The first clue that linked Medina to the murder were
security camera
records that captured the image of his truck
in the driveway of the bishop's home
at the time of the murder.
Later,
a call directed the search
for Medina.
It was when a neighbor alerted about the behavior of the now detainee, that he was acting irrationally and had made comments that
O'Connell "owed him money"
.
Detectives recovered
weapons at the Medina home
and ballistics tests are pending.
His wife
, the priest's housekeeper,
is collaborating with the investigators
, who are now trying to clarify the motive for the murder.
Who was David O'Connell, the murdered bishop
O'Connell was a leading Catholic in
Los Angeles
, where he officiated in later years as auxiliary bishop.
Despite having made his ecclesiastical career in the United States, he was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1953.
Since 1979, when he was ordained a priest, he served in that archdiocese.
He chaired a working group there that coordinated
the Church's assistance to children and families in Central America
.
David O'Connell, at an anti-abortion rally.
Facebook photo
In its beginnings it had
intervened in the gang fight
in the city, while in 1992 it interceded to pacify the violent days that followed the acquittal of four white police officers who had brutally beaten the African-American Rodney King, who was on probation.
The episode was paradigmatic: an amateur recorded the beating with his Sony camera, the images spread and ignited the anger of minority groups against the agents.
It was a direct antecedent of the George Floyd case
.
O'Connell came to the bishopric in 2015, after the age-limited resignation of Monsignor Gerald E. Wilkerson.
Along with him, two other religious were anointed: Joseph V. Brennan and Robert E. Barron.
They knew him as
"The Peacemaker"
.
His ancestry in the Catholic community had led him to participate in demonstrations
against the right to abortion
, as well as to go on a prayer chain and hunger strike after the entry into force of the assisted suicide law in California in June 2016. .
Jose H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles, was hurt by the murder of David O'Connell.
AP Photo
"Bishop Dave was a man of deep prayer who had a great love for Our Blessed Mother," Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gómez defined him.
"He was a man of peace with
a heart for the poor and immigrants
, and was passionate about building a community where the sanctity and dignity of every human life was honored and protected," he added.
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