Authorities are investigating as “suspicious” the death of a Catholic bishop, who was found shot dead in a home in Hacienda Heights.
Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles David G. O’Connell, 69, was found dead in a bedroom of a residence on the 1500 block of Janlu Avenue around 1 p.m., said Michael Modica, County Sheriff Lt. Los Angeles. O’Connell was apparently shot in the upper torso.
Modica said homicide investigators are investigating the case. He added that police do not believe there is a risk to the public.
O’Connell was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1953, and was named auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by Pope Francis in 2015, according to the archdiocese. He was a priest and bishop in Los Angeles for over 45 years.
O’Connell served as chair of the Southern California Interdiocesan Immigration Task Force, as well as chair of the Human Development Campaign Subcommittee for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“He was a peacemaker with a heart for the poor and immigrants, and he had a passion for creating a community in which the sanctity of every human life was honored and protected,” the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose H. Gomez.