Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell was assassinated this weekend at his Hacienda Heights residence.
The priest’s lifeless body was discovered on Saturday, but details of the investigation were not released until Monday at a press conference.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Chief Robert Luna said detectives had worked tirelessly from the time of the discovery to identify and arrest the person responsible.
The police report was received on Saturday February 18 at 1 p.m. “Lasd Industrial Station officers responded to a call from a person who was not breathing,” Luna said.
The incident happened in the 1500 block of Janlu Avenue in Hacienda Heights. “From the information we have, a deacon went home to check on (O’Connell) because he was late for a meeting. I think it was the deacon who called 911 and we answered,” Luna said.
After paramedics arrived, “a male was pronounced dead at the scene,” Luna said, adding that “at the scene the male was discovered to be Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell.”
Luna described that “Bishop O’Connell was shot at least once in his upper body while in a room in his residence”.
The cause of death was determined to be “suspicious, as no weapons were found at the scene and there was no evidence of forced entry into the bishop’s house,” the LASD chief said.
Homicide detectives arrived at the location where they began gathering information, conducting interviews, and examining neighborhood security cameras.
On Sunday morning, investigators from the coroner’s office arrived at the scene and determined that “this incident was a homicide.”
Later, surveillance video was discovered “showing a vehicle that had stopped in front of the Bishop’s Drive, stayed there for a short time, then drove off. The vehicle was described as a dark colored compact SUV,” Luna said.
Sunday evening around 7 p.m., “Detectives received a tip from a person of interest who resided in the town of Torrance.
The man was identified as Carlos Medina, 65. The person who tipped said he “worried that Medina was acting strangely, irrationally, and he made comments about the bishop owing him money,” Luna reported.
Medina “is the husband of O’Connell’s housekeeper, who had previously done work at the bishopric, and was driving an SUV similar to the one seen in the bishopric driveway,” the LASD chief added.
Medina’s house was located in the 2400 block of Kenwood Avenue in the city of Torrance. The tipster said “Medina moved out of Los Angeles County and was supposed to be in central California,” Luna added.
Authorities have issued arrest warrants for Medina.
At 2 a.m. Monday, LASD was “alert by a community member that Medina had returned home,” Luna said. Officers from the Carso post, along with other units, responded to the scene and began the operation to surrender Medina.
Medina finally left her residence at 8:15 a.m. Monday and was arrested. Investigators “recovered two weapons and other evidence that possibly links Medina to the crime,” Luna said.
So far, no further details have been released as to the motive for the homicide and authorities are continuing to investigate. Luna said no further information will be released while more evidence is gathered.
Neighbors at the Medina residence told Telemundo 52 they had not previously noticed any strange behavior from the man and said they were surprised by the results of the investigations.
No details of O’Connell’s funeral service have been released so far.