LOS ANGELES – Four days after a Roman Catholic bishop was discovered shot to demise in his suburban Los Angeles house, prosecutors on Wednesday charged the husband of the cleric’s housekeeper with murdering the prelate, the district legal professional’s workplace mentioned.
David O’Connell, 69, a local of Ireland and one in all a number of auxiliary bishops for the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, was discovered slain Saturday afternoon within the bed room of his Hacienda Heights house, sparking an intense manhunt for the killer.
The homicide surprised the archdiocese, which ranks as the most important within the United States with some 5 million parishioners, as Catholics world wide readied for observance of Ash Wednesday and the six-week interval of pertinence referred to as Lent.
The suspect, Carlos Medina, was arrested on Monday by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies appearing on an nameless tip from somebody who reported observing Medina behaving surprisingly and commenting that the bishop owed him cash, Sheriff Robert Luna mentioned.
Medina, 61, was taken into custody following an hours-long standoff with legislation enforcement officers at his house in Torrance, simply south of Los Angeles, based on the sheriff’s division.
He was charged with one rely of homicide by use of a firearms, and was because of be arraigned in a while Wednesday, the county District Attorney’s Office mentioned.
A motive for the killing remained beneath investigation, however Luna mentioned Medina is the husband of O’Connell’s housekeeper and had beforehand accomplished work on the bishop’s house himself.
Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez paid tribute to O’Connell as a “man of peace.”
“Every day he worked to show compassion to the poor, the homeless, to the immigrant, and to all those living on society’s margins. He was good priest,” Gomez instructed reporters on Monday.
O’Connell served as founder and chairman of a Catholic process power that helped scores of migrant who entered the United States with out grownup companions.
He gained a status within the Nineties for looking for to restore relations between residents of riot-torn neighborhoods and legislation enforcement following the videotaped beating of Black motorist Rodney King by a bunch of white Los Angeles cops, based on the Los Angeles Times. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
