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Auxiliary Bishop David O'Connell celebrates Mass. | Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
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A suspect in the killing of Archdiocese of Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell was arrested Monday, but no details were immediately released.
Sheriff Robert Luna was scheduled to hold news conference Monday afternoon to discuss the arrest.
Some media reports Monday morning suggested the arrest was made following an hours-long standoff in Torrance. The sheriff’s department’s Special Enforcement Bureau confirmed in a Twitter post that an “armed, barricaded” suspect had been taken into custody shortly after 9 a.m. following a standoff on Kenwood Avenue in Torrance. But the post did not link the standoff to O’Connell’s death.
O’Connell, 69, was found shot just before 1 p.m. Saturday at a home in the 1500 block of Janlu Avenue, near Turnbull Canyon Road in Hacienda Heights. Sheriff’s officials confirmed Sunday that his death was being investigated as a homicide.
The Los Angeles Times reported that O’Connell was found dead in his bed of a single gunshot wound. Sources also told the paper there were no signs of forced entry at the home, which is owned by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and the crime is not believed to be random.
Lt. Michael Modica told reporters earlier that O’Connell was found dead in a room of the house from an apparent gunshot wound to the upper body. No further details were released.
O’Connell was a native of Ireland and had been a priest and later a bishop in Los Angeles for 45 years, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez said.
“He was a peacemaker with a heart for the poor and the immigrant, and he had a passion for building a community where the sanctity and dignity of every human life was honored and protected,” Gomez said in a statement.
“He was also a good friend, and I will miss him greatly. I know we all will. Please join me in praying for Bishop Dave and for his family in Ireland. May Our Lady of Guadalupe wrap him in the mantle of her love, and may the angels lead him into paradise, and may he rest in peace.”
At the time of his death, O’Connell — widely known as “Bishop Dave” — was vicar for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ San Gabriel Pastoral Region, a post he had held since 2015 when Pope Francis appointed him as an auxiliary bishop for the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
O’Connell had previously served as associate pastor at St. Raymond Catholic Church in Downey, St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church in Long Beach, and St. Hilary Church of Perpetual Adoration in Pico Rivera and then as pastor of St. Frances X. Cabrini, Ascension, St. Eugene and St. Michael’s parishes, all in Los Angeles.
O’Connell was born in County Cork, Ireland. He studied for the priesthood at All Hallows College in Dublin and was ordained to serve in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1979, according to Doris Benavides, associate director of media relations for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
As chairman of the interdiocesan Southern California Immigration Task Force, O’Connell helped coordinate the church’s response to immigrant children and families from Central America in recent years. He also sponsored the enrollment of several young immigrants in Catholic schools, a number of whom have advanced to college.
He served as a member of the Priest Pension Board and on the Together in Mission Board as well as the Archdiocesan Finance Council, the archdiocese said. He was a member of the Council of Priests and a Knight of Peter Claver.
At the national level, he was chairman of the Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In September, O’Connell was honored with the Evangelii Gaudium Award from St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, “for his selfless service to the community and the Church in L.A,” Benavides said.
A gathering of mourners held candles and stood near the intersection of Janlu and Los Robles avenues Saturday night and prayed the rosary in his memory. A memorial was continuing to grow outside his home on Monday.
The sheriff’s Homicide Bureau urged anyone with information regarding the shooting to call them at 323-890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477. Tipsters can also use a smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile app on Google Play or the Apple App Store or by using the website lacrimestoppers.org.
“Bishop O’Connell was a guiding light for so many, and his legacy will continue to live on,” the sheriff’s department tweeted earlier. “You are not alone in your grief and that @LASDHQ is here to support you. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, and we are working diligently to seek those responsible for his death.”
Updated Feb. 20, 2023, 11:09 a.m.
