FILE – Bishop David O’Connell of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles attends a press conference at the United States Bishops’ Conference Fall General Assembly on November 17, 2021 in Baltimore. O’Connell was found dead in Hacienda Heights, Calif., on Saturday, 18, 2023, from a gunshot wound, according to the Los Angeles Times. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man arrested Monday in the murder of a Catholic bishop who shocked the religious and immigrant communities in Los Angeles is the husband of the victim’s housekeeper and had worked at her home, authorities said. .

Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, 69, died after being shot dead Saturday in the bedroom of his home in Hacienda Heights, an unincorporated community about 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles , said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. .

A SWAT team arrested Carlos Medina, husband of O’Connell’s housekeeper, at his home in Torrance, about 55 miles southwest of Hacienda Heights, Luna said.

The police chief said detectives first linked Medina to the crime after finding surveillance video showing his truck in the driveway of O’Connell’s home at the time of the murder.

A person who called authorities said Medina, 65, was acting irrationally and made comments that O’Connell ‘owed him money,’ Luna said, adding the motive for the murder still stood out. the subject of an investigation.

Detectives found no evidence of a break-in at the home owned by the archdiocese, Luna said, adding that Medina’s wife was cooperating with authorities. Detectives recovered weapons from Medina’s home and ballistics tests are pending, Luna said.

It was not immediately clear whether Medina had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

A deacon who went to check on O’Connell after he failed to show up for a meeting found him dead at his home a few blocks from St. John Vianney’s Church, part of his archdiocese, and called the police, Luna said.

“While I don’t know the bishop personally, I can’t tell you how many calls I’ve received in the past 48 hours from people who have worked with him in different capacities,” Luna said. “The bishop has made a huge difference in our community. He was loved.”

O’Connell had been a priest for 45 years and was originally from Ireland, according to Angelus News, the news site for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the country’s largest. Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese in 2015.

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Rodriguez reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writer Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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