Detectives treating Los Angeles bishop’s death as homicide

Detectives treating Los Angeles bishop's death as homicide

Authorities say a Catholic bishop in Southern California has been shot and killed just blocks…

AP News

By STEFANIE DAZIO and DAMIAN DOVARGANES

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Catholic bishop in Southern California was shot and killed Saturday just blocks from a church, a slaying of a longtime priest hailed as a “peacemaker” that’s stunned the Los Angeles religious community, authorities said.

Detectives are investigating the death of Bishop David O’Connell as a homicide, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities have not said whether the bishop was targeted in the shooting or if his religion was a factor in the killing. The sheriff’s department would not say how or specifically where his body was discovered. The shooter — or shooters — remain at-large.

O’Connell, 69, 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.