Officials from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have officially named 65-year-old Carlos Medina of Torrance, California, as the prime suspect and person of interest that was taken into custody in regard to the fatal shooting of Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell which took place this past weekend.
69-year-old O’Connell of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was found to have been shot dead inside of his own home located in the area of Hacienda Heights this past Saturday just prior to 1 p.m. local time.
“This bishop made a huge difference in our community,” explained Robert G. Luna, the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, as part of a press conference held Monday evening. “He was loved, and it’s very sad that we’re gathered here today to talk about his murder in this way.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna explained that his detectives were looking into the death of the bishop when they were offered a tip from one concerned citizen who described the person of interest as “acting strange, irrational, and made comments about the bishop owing him money.”
Medina is known to be the husband of the housekeeper for O’Connell and had previously been employed at the residence of the bishop.
Law enforcement officials discovered the dead body of O’Connell in his own bed this past Saturday from what was found to be a single gunshot wound after one of the deacons from his church called up 911 when they checked in on the bishop due to the man being late for a scheduled meeting, stated Luna.
Local authorities were not able to find a weapon at the scene or even detect any evidence that the perpetrator had forced his way into the bishop’s home. However, in the wake of looking over the neighborhood for surveillance footage, detectives found a number of recordings on Sunday which showed a very dark-colored compact SUV that had visited the bishop’s house, parked in his driveway, stayed for a short time, and then fled the scene quickly.
The sheriff stated that authorities were given a top concerning Medina departing from Los Angeles county and was thought to be in the area of central California before making his way back to his own home by about 2:00 am this past Monday.
Local police forces were able to set a perimeter around Medina’s personal residence before calling out to the suspect to fully surrender and cooperate with the police.
