A long-serving Catholic bishop known as a “peacemaker” was shot and killed in Los Angeles on Saturday, officials said.
Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, who had been a priest and then a bishop during his 45 years with the church, died “unexpectedly,” José H. Gomez, the archbishop of Los Angeles, said in a statement.
He’d been known as a “man of deep prayer,” Gomez said.
Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, attends a news conference at the Fall General Assembly meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, on Nov. 17, 2021, in Baltimore.
Julio Cortez/AP
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it responded at about 1 p.m. to the Hacienda Heights neighborhood, where an adult male was pronounced dead at the scene. Los Angeles ABC station KABC confirmed with police that O’Connell had been shot and killed.
“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,” Gomez said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. ABC News’ Vanessa Navarrete contributed to this report