Suspect arrested in shooting death of Bishop David O’Connell

A suspect in the shooting death of Bishop David O’Connell has been arrested, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Monday.

The sheriff’s department did not immediately identify the suspect or provide details on their arrest. A press conference is scheduled for later Monday, during which Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna is expected to formally announce the arrest. 

Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles David O’Connell, 69, was found with a gunshot wound in his Hacienda Heights home on Saturday afternoon, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He was pronounced dead at the scene. On Sunday, detectives confirmed they were investigating O’Connell’s death as a homicide.

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

O’Connell worked in South Los Angeles for years and focused on gang intervention, Angelus News reported. He later sought to broker peace between residents and law enforcement following the violent 1992 uprising after a jury acquitted four white LA police officers in the beating of Rodney King, a Black man.

Nearly two decades later, O’Connell brought the San Gabriel Valley community together to rebuild a mission there after an arson attack and in recent years spearheaded Catholic efforts in the region to work with immigrant children and families from Central America.