California man wanted in murder of Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell is taken into custody, sources say. The late David O’Connell was Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
California police have arrested a suspect in connection with the shooting death of Catholic Bishop David O’Connell, law enforcement sources told Fox News.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has yet to offer details regarding the person’s identity. O’Connell, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, was fatally shot in an incident at his home in Hacienda Heights this weekend.
Deputies responded to the shooting, and when they arrived at the scene, they discovered O’Connell suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
“It’s very early in the investigation,” sheriff’s department Homicide Bureau Detective Michael Modica said Sunday. “We got a lot more steps we have to take to make more determination to what’s happening.”
O’Connell, 69, was named Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by Pope Francis in 2015.
Archbishop José H. Gomez announced the news during Mass on Saturday.
“Our beloved Auxiliary Bishop David O’Conell 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.”