Man arrested in shooting death of priest outside northeast Kansas parish
SENECA, Kan. (KCTV) - Authorities have arrested a man in connection to the shooting death of a Kansas priest.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) said 66-year-old Gary L. Hermesch of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was taken into custody shortly after shooting and killing Father Arul Carasala.
The priest was shot outside the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church rectory at 411 Pioneer Street in Seneca, approximately 60 miles north of Topeka. Seneca has a population of about 2,100 people.
READ MORE: ‘Pray for the perpetrator’: Archdiocese confirms Kansas priest fatally shot
Hermesch was booked into the Nemaha County Jail on suspected first-degree murder. Jail logs show he was officially charged Thursday evening.
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, who has served as Archbishop of Kansas City since 2005, took to social media with heartfelt condolences. He called the incident a senseless act of violence that’s left an entire parish grieving the loss of their beloved leader.
“In this time of sorrow, let us entrust Fr. Carasala to the mercy of God and lift in prayer his family in Cuddapah, India, his parish community at Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Seneca, and all who mourn his passing. Let us also pray for the perpetrator, that God may touch and transform his heart.”
Father Arul Carasala served as priest at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Seneca since 2011, according to his profile on the parish website. He was ordained as a priest in 1994 in his native India and had served in Kansas since 2004. He became a U.S. citizen in 2011.
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