LOS ANGELES – Funeral services were announced Thursday for Los Angeles Catholic Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, who was gunned down at his home in Hacienda Heights.
Funeral services will take place over a three-day period, beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday with a memorial Mass at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Hacienda Heights.
A public viewing will be held March 2 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 6 p.m., followed by a vigil Mass at 7:00 p.m. The funeral Mass is scheduled for 11 a.m. March 3, also at the cathedral.
In a statement following O’Connell’s death, Archbishop José H. Gomez described the 69-year-old O’Connell as a “peacemaker with a heart for the poor and the immigrant.”
O’Connell was a native of Ireland and had been a priest and later a bishop in Los Angeles for 45 years.
O’Connell was found shot just before 1 p.m. Saturday at his home in the 1500 block of Janlu Avenue, near Turnbull Canyon Road. The bishop’s body was discovered when a deacon went to the home to check on him, because O’Connell was apparently late for a meeting, Sheriff Robert Luna said earlier this week.
Carlos Medina, 61, was arrested around 8:15 a.m. Monday following an hours-long standoff at his home in the 2400 block of Kenwood Avenue in Torrance. Luna said two firearms were recovered at Medina’s home, and they were being tested to determine if either weapon was involved in the Saturday shooting.
Medina is the husband of O’Connell’s housekeeper, and he also performed handyman work at the bishop’s home, authorities said. He was charged Wednesday with murder, and District Attorney George Gascón said at a news conference that Medina had confessed to the crime, although a motive remains unknown.
The murder charge against Medina includes an allegation of the personal use of a firearm, meaning he faces up to 35 years to life in state prison if he is convicted as charged.
