Prominent bishop in Los Angeles killed in shooting

February 20, 2023

Catholics are mourning the news that popular bishop David O’Connell of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was shot to death Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

O'Connell, 69, was killed around 1:00 p.m., and was found in a room with a gunshot wound to his upper torso.

In a statement about his death, Archbishop José Gomez called O'Connell a "peacemaker" who loved immigrants and the poor.

“As a priest and later a bishop here in Los Angeles for forty-five years, Bishop Dave was a man of deep prayer who had a great love for Our Blessed Mother,” Gomez 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.”

“It is a shock and I have no words to express my sadness,” he added.

Law enforcement is investigating but has no suspects in the shooting so far.