The husband of a housekeeper near Los Angeles was arrested Monday in connection with the fatal shooting of a Catholic bishop, who may have been killed over a financial beef, officials said.
said Robert J.
Medina’s Wife is O’Connell’s housekeeper and has never been publicly involved or identified.
Luna said his department received information about Medina’s location and a possible motive – who said the man believed O’Connell owed him money.
Luna said security video showed an SUV similar to the one the housekeeper temporarily used in the driveway of the Bishop’s home before the murder. He said the suspect had done “some work” in the house before.
Luna said at a press conference Monday afternoon that at least one of the mentors was “concerned that Medina was acting strangely and irrationally and making comments about the bishop owering him money.”
The suspect left Torrance for central California, Luna said, but investigators received a tip that he had returned home, which led to a response from the residence that turned into a confrontation.
Special Enforcement Office tactical deputies ordered the suspect out of the house, Luna said, but he refused for an indefinite amount of time Monday morning. He said he eventually gave in and was arrested without further incident.
A search of the home approved by the judge, Luna said, turned up two handguns and other evidence that might be related to the crime.
Authorities said sheriff’s deputies responded Saturday to the 1500 block of Ganlu Street at 12:57 p.m. after a medical emergency call.
O’Connell, 69, was found by paramedics with a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, the Sheriff’s Department reported.
O’Connell, who was originally from Ireland, was a priest and then bishop in Los Angeles for 45 years, the Angelus News Agency, a Catholic news service, reported.
O’Connell, known as “Bishop Dave,” has been “the episcopal vicar of the San Gabriel parish area of the diocese since 2015, when Pope Francis named him an auxiliary bishop,” Angelos reported. O’Connell chose to help calm tensions between residents and law enforcement in South Los Angeles.
Archbishop Jose H. Saturday statement. “He was also a good friend, and I will miss him very much.”
Luna vows to help successfully prosecute the suspect.
“This man, this bishop, has made a huge difference in our community,” Luna said. “He was loved.”
