Carlos Medina, Bishop Murder Suspect: 5 Quick Facts

LA Sheriff/Facebook {David OConnell)

Carlos Medina is reportedly the suspect charged in the murder of Bishop David O’Connell (R).

Carlos Medina has been identified as the 65-year-old suspect charged in the Los Angeles, California shooting, according to Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell the Los Angeles County Sheriff.

Robert G. Luna, Los Angeles County Sheriff confirmed about Medina’s arrest in a press conference on the afternoon of February 20, 2023, saying he initially refused to leave his home in Torrance, California.

O’Connell was reportedly found dead in a home on February 18, 2023 Archbishop of Los Angeles Jose Gomez.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Bureau tweeted oOn February 20, 2023: “ASD SEB’s SWAT operation on an armed, barricaded suspect in Torrance is complete. Suspect in custody. Kenwood Ave reopened. Neighborhood safe.” The sheriff confirmed that Medina was taken into custody. He said detectives found two firearms and other evidence that might link Medina to the crime.

Los Angeles County’s Hilda Solis said in a statement read by an aide at the press conference that O’Connell “was known as a peacemaker during the most turbulent times in LA history.” She said he fought for the weak in society.

LA Daily News reporter Clara Harter wrote on Twitter that sheriff’s officers “have taken into custody a man in connection with the killing of Bishop David O’Connell. The man had barricaded himself in his home on Kenwood Ave, Torrance. Neighbor Marty Hernandez says sheriffs arrived at midnight and the suspect finally showed up at 9 a.m. today.”

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Carlos Medina, husband of Bishop David O’Connell’s housekeeper, is accused of making comments that the bishop owes him money, the sheriff says

According to Luna, a tipster contacted authorities and said that Median was behaving “strangely and irrationally” and “made comments about the bishop owing him money.”

“Medina is the husband of Bishop O’Connell’s housekeeper,” Luna said.

Harter tweeted“Neighbors Luis Lopez and his son Adrian were evacuated by the Sheriffs Department around 3am last night. They say the suspect’s wife was a devout Catholic and knew Bishop David O’Connell. “She was a wonderful woman, it was all about God,” Lopez said.”

The sheriff said at the press conference that the woman was O’Connell’s housekeeper.

Gomez wrote on February 19, 2023: opinion that church officials had learned this morning from sheriff’s officers that “the death yesterday of Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell was a homicide.”

“We are deeply troubled and saddened by this news,” Gomez wrote in the statement, which referred to O’Connell as “Bishop Dave.”

“Let us continue to pray for Bishop Dave and his family,” Gomez wrote. “And let us pray for law enforcement officers as they continue their investigation into this horrific crime.”

He added, “We ask Our Blessed Mother Mary to intercede and be a mother to us all at this moment of sadness and pain.”

ABC News correspondent Alex Stone tweeted that authorities had ruled out suicide after receiving a “medical emergency call” leading them to discover O’Connell’s body “in a house.”

2. The sheriff says Carlos Medina shot David O’Connell in the bedroom of the bishop’s house

According to the sheriff, O’Connell “received at least one gunshot wound to the upper body while in the bedroom of his residence.”

According to the Los Angeles TimesA law enforcement source said that O’Connell, 69, “was found dead in his bed with a single gunshot wound” at his Catholic Archdiocese home.

There were no signs of forced entry, the sheriff confirmed. He said a firearm was not discovered at the scene. The crime was not believed to be accidental, The Times reported.

According to a press release homicide detectives were dispatched to the scene of a gunshot death by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on February 18, 2023.

The press release states that the body was found at 12:57 p.m. at the 1500 block of Janlu Avenue in Hacienda Heights, California

“The victim was pronounced dead at the scene,” the press release said.

“Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Office at (323) 890-5500,” the sheriff’s officers wrote.

3. A dark-colored SUV like One Medina Drives was spotted on surveillance video at the bishop’s home, the sheriff says

According to the sheriff, a dark-colored SUV was seen in Bishop’s driveway. Luna said Medina drives a similar vehicle.

According to the Whittier Daily News, The sheriff’s department received a call about a person “not breathing and bleeding” in the home.

They found O’Connell dead in a room “from an apparent gunshot wound to the torso,” reported the Daily News.

Janice Hahn, chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, tweeted, “I was very saddened to learn of Bishop O’Connell’s death. He was a longtime friend. I was fortunate to work with him during my time on the City Council and again as a Supervisor. I join Archbishop Gomez and the people of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in mourning his loss.”

4. Carlos Medina, whose yard was “littered” with trash, had previously worked at the bishop’s home, the sheriff says

Luna said Medina previously worked at the bishop’s house.

Journalist Harter tweeted“Here’s a look into the suspect’s yard, cluttered with an assortment of items and clutter including pipes, bikes, buckets, tools, bicycles and potted plants.”

She quoted his neighbor Marty Hernandez as saying: “He always seemed like a weird person. Always on the go, in a hurry and digging,” says neighbor Marty Hernandez.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department later tweeted that “Bishop O’Connell was a guiding light to so many and his legacy will live on.”

“You are not alone in your grief and this @lasdhq is here to support you. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and we are working tirelessly to find those responsible for his death,” the sheriff’s department tweeted.

In a previous statement On Saturday, February 18, 2023, Gomez wrote that he was “very saddened this afternoon to announce that our beloved Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell passed away unexpectedly. It’s a shock and I have no words to express my sadness.”

5. Bishop David O’Connell has been described as a religious leader “known for walking among the people”

Janice Hahn, Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said at the February 20, 2023 press conference that O’Connell was a friend of hers. “He was known for walking among people. He turned to gang members. He reached out to the homeless. He turned to the transients.”

O’Connell is the “help of the helpless and the hope of the hopeless,” she said, adding that he helps immigrant children. “Los Angeles Catholics have lost an incredible leader,” Hahn said.

After a biography According to the LA Catholics website, O’Connell was “the Episcopal Vicar of the San Gabriel Pastoral Region, one of the five pastoral regions in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In 2015 he was appointed Titular Bishop of Cell Ausaille and Auxiliary Bishop.”

O’Connell “received a BA in Philosophy and English Literature from University College Dublin in 1975, a Bachelor of Divinity from Maynooth College in 1977 and a Master of Spirituality from Mount St Mary’s College in 1987,” the biography reads.

“Since his ordination he has served as associate pastor at St. Raymond in Downey, St. Maria Goretti in Long Beach and St. Hillary in Pico Rivera and then as pastor of St. Frances X. Cabrini, Ascension Catholic Church, St. Eugene and St. Michael Parishes,” it says.

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