Prosecutors Charge Man In Killing Of Los Angeles Bishop

Prosecutors charged a man Wednesday with killing a Catholic bishop in a crime that stunned Los Angeles religious and immigrant communities.

Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, 69, was fatally shot multiple times Saturday in the bedroom of his home in Hacienda Heights, an unincorporated community about 20 miles (30 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles.

The suspect, Carlos Medina, is the husband of O’Connell’s housekeeper. Medina had done work at the bishop’s home and was arrested Monday by a SWAT team.

LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced that Medina is charged with one count of murder during a news conference Wednesday.

Medina faces 35 years to life in prison. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon. It was not known if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

O’Connell had been a priest for 45 years and was a native of Ireland, according to Angelus News, the news outlet of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest. In 2015, Pope Francis named him one of several auxiliary bishops of the archdiocese.

Lt. Michael Modica of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, who is leading the homicide investigation, said Medina told detectives of several reasons for the violence, “and none of them made any sense to investigators.”

Previous reports that Medina said O’Connell had owed him money appear to be incorrect, Modica said.