Community stunned as 'peacemaker' bishop found dead with gunshot wound

19 February 2023 , 19:57

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Bishop David O'Connell was found dead on Saturday (Image: AP)

A community in Los Angeles, California has been left reeling after a bishop was shot and killed.

Police in the US is treating the death of Roman Catholic Bishop David O'Connell as a homicide after he was found just blocks from the St John Vianney Catholic Church.

The church is part of O'Connell's archdiocese and he was found at around 1pm on Saturday with a gunshot wound. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene, but O'Connell was not identified until Sunday morning.

The archbishop lived in the area, which is around 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, but is it not yet clear if he was found at home or nearby.

O'Connell, born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1953, served in the city for 45 years as a priest and later a bishop. Local reports say the bishop was known as a "peacemaker."

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O'Connell, born in Ireland, was known as a 'peacemaker' (AP)

The LA County Sheriff’s Department said in a brief statement that "This incident is being handled as a murder investigation," but there is "no additional information available at this time."

Rowland Heights resident Jonny Flores told the Los Angeles Times he knew O'Connell from rallies and said: "He didn’t hold back his words. He was well-spoken.

"He would take the time. He was very humble. He was never too busy."

The newspaper reported in 2002: "O'Connell spends a lot of time encouraging his parishioners to speak up for themselves — to fight for new stop signs and safer playgrounds, to demand that politicians keep their promises."

The LA Catholics website said that "Bishop O’Connell has always been very active in serving those in need."

Of his career, they said: "O’Connell received a BA in Philosophy and English Literature from the University College Dublin in 1975, a Bachelor of Divinity from Maynooth College in 1977 and a Masters of Spirituality from Mount St. Mary’s College in 1987."

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez only said O'Connell "passed away unexpectedly" without mentioning the violence. The archdiocese on Sunday referred media inquiries to the sheriff's department.

"It is a shock and I have no words to express my sadness," Gomez said in a statement, calling him "a good friend."

"Bishop Dave was a man of deep prayer who had a great love for Our Blessed Mother," he 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."

Benjamin Lynch