An arrest has been made in connection with the Feb. 18 murder of a Los Angeles-area bishop shot dead in his Catholic archdiocese-owned home.
On Feb. 20, Carlos Medina, the 65-year-old husband of the deceased bishop’s former housekeeper, was taken into custody after an hours-long standoff that took place in his home from which Medina refused to leave, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna.
Speaking at a news conference related to the case, Luna confirmed that Bishop David G. O’Connell, 69, was found dead by deputies who received a “person not breathing rescue call” on Feb. 18 sometime around 1 p.m. On the day of his death, a deacon arrived at O’Connell’s residence to check in on him after he did not appear for a meeting.
Medina had previously done work for the bishop around his house, according to the sheriff, and a motive for the killing has yet to be determined. However, he confirmed that a potential money dispute was “something that we’ve heard.”
The sheriff also confirmed that Medina drove a similar SUV to one seen in recent surveillance footage of the bishop’s driveway that captured the car pulling up and leaving after a short period.
During the conference, Luna described the bishop’s murder as a “horrendous crime” and hailed his impact on the Los Angeles Catholic community.
“The justice system will take its course as we grieve, heal, and lean on the messages and examples he has shown all of us,” he said. “Bishop McConnell’s death will not be in vain. We will do as he taught us to love to care and to fight for the vulnerable. I will miss him.”
According to Angelus, a weekly Catholic magazine published by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, O’Connell was named an auxiliary bishop in 2015 by Pope Francis, in the years after he served as an episcopal vicar for the archdiocese’s San Gabriel Pastoral Region.
