A 65-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested by police in Los Angeles in connection with the murder of Irish Bishop David O’Connell.
Carlos Medina was arrested by police following a stand-off with police at his home in the Torrance area of LA.
Medina is the husband of Bishop O’Connell’s housekeeper. He has previously done work at the Bishop’s residence, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna told a press conference.
Cork native Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell was shot at his east LA home on Saturday.
Bishop O’Connell, 69, was from Glanmire in Cork and was ordained as a priest in 1979 before moving to Los Angeles County where he worked for the rest of his life.
He became an auxiliary bishop in 2015.
Luna told the press conference that detectives received a tip on Sunday evening at around 7pm that there was a person of interest who lived in the Torrance area.
This person was identified as Medina.
“Detectives were told by the tipster that they were concerned because Medina was acting strange, irrational and made comments about the Bishop owing him money,” Luna said.
On Sunday morning, police at the crime scene discovered surveillance footage that showed a vehicle that had pulled into the Bishop’s driveway, stayed for a short time and left. The vehicle was described as a dark coloured compact SUV.
Luna told the press conference that Medina drove a similar SUV to the one that was seen at the scene.
Police attended Medina’s home in the early hours of yesterday morning and conducted call outs for him to surrender. However, Luna said he refused to come out of his residence.
Medina later surrendered at around 8.15am yesterday morning. He was taken into custody.
“Detectives recovered two firearms and other evidence possibly linking Medina to the crime,” Luna said.
The firearms will be examined to determine whether they were used in the murder.
“My heart grieves, although I personally did not know the Bishop,” Luna said.
“This man, this Bishop, made a huge difference in our community. He was loved. It’s very sad that we’re gathered here today to talk about his murder in this way,” he said.
“He’s been a pillar in our community, known as a peacemaker, a passion for serving those in need.”
According to the diocese of Los Angeles’s website, many of the south and east LA communities where Bishop O’Connell worked for 45 years were afflicted by gang violence, poverty and tensions between locals and the LAPD.
When the 1992 LA riots broke out, the auxiliary bishop was in Washington, D.C. testifying before a panel on Capitol Hill about violence in urban America and returned home to find widespread destruction in his parish.
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