UPDATE: A suspect has been arrested in the fatal shooting of Catholic Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Read more.
LOS ANGELES – The Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was shot and killed in his home on Saturday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Bishop David O’Connell, 69, was fatally shot at his private residence in the 1500 block of Janlu Avenue in the city of Hacienda Heights, LASD confirmed, according to KTLA.
Deputies responded to the shooting at the home of the Roman Catholic Church official about 1 p.m. on Saturday. Upon arrival, they discovered O’Connell suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Sheriff’s Department has not provided additional details, simply saying the “suspicious death” remains under investigation and no suspect information has been provided.
“It’s very early in the investigation,” LASD Homicide Bureau Detective Michael Modica said, according to KCAL. “We got a lot more steps we have to take to make more determination to what’s happening.”
In 2015, Pope Francis named O’Connell as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, an area he served for more than 45 years, Fox News reported.
O’Connell had also served as the Episcopal Vicar of the San Gabriel Pastoral Region.
Archbishop José H. Gomez announced O’Connell’s death during during Mass on Saturday.
“Our beloved Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell has passed away unexpectedly,” he said. “It’s a shock and I have no words to express my sadness. As a priest and later a bishop here in Los Angeles for forty-five years, Bishop Dave was a man of deep prayer who had a great love for Our Blessed Mother. He was a peacemaker with a heart for the poor and the immigrant, and he had a passion for building a community where the sanctity and dignity of every human life was honored and protected.”
“He was also a good friend, and I will miss him greatly. I know we all will,” Gomez continued. “Please join me in praying for Bishop Dave and for his family in Ireland. May Our Lady of Guadalupe wrap him in the mantle of her love, and may the angels lead him into paradise, and may he rest in peace.”
