All Los Angeles County flags will be flown at half-staff in honor of Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, who was murdered in his Hacienda Heights Home.
County Board of Supervisors President Janice Hahn ordered that flags be flown at half-staff during a Monday news conference in which Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna announced an arrest in the killing. Hahn’s office said flags will remain at half-staff until after O’Connell’s funeral services, which have not yet been announced.
Hahn highlighted her longtime friendship with the late bishop, whom she said she met when she was a Los Angeles City Council member and he was a pastor in South Los Angeles.
“He was the help of the helpless and the hope of the hopeless," she said.
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Carlos Medina, 65, was arrested Monday on suspicion of shooting O’Connell dead at his home. Medina is the husband of O’Connell’s housekeeper, and a tipster told police that he had been acting “strange” and made comments about O’Connell owing him money following his death, Luna said.
After an hourslong standoff at Medina’s Torrance home, he surrendered to police. A search warrant yielded two guns and other evidence possibly linking him to O’Connell’s slaying, Luna said.
Investigators have not yet established a possible motive.
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O’Connell was born in County Cork, Ireland in 1953 and was named an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by Pope Francis in 2015, according to the Los Angeles Archdiocese. He served as a priest and bishop in LA County for more than 45 years.
