A Catholic priest was shot and killed Thursday by a man who approached him at his parish rectory in the town of Seneca, Kansas, church officials said.
“I am heartbroken to share the tragic news of the death of Fr. Arul Carasala, who was fatally shot earlier today,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann, of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, said in a Facebook post. “This senseless act of violence has left us grieving the loss of a beloved priest, leader, and friend.”
Carasala had been the pastor 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.
A post on the parish Facebook page said the priest was shot at the church rectory and died shortly after at the local hospital.
Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas
“A suspected shooter is reportedly in custody,” the post said.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said that Gary L. Hermesch, 66, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was arrested and booked into jail for first-degree murder in connection to Carasala’s death, CBS affiliate WIBW reported. Hermesch has not yet been formally charged, the station reported.
Kris Anderson, the parish’s director of religious education, told The Associated Press they knew few details.
“From what we know, an older man walked up to him and shot him three times,” she said, adding that she didn’t know who shot him or why.
People answering the phones at the Seneca Police Department and at the Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment. They referred calls to County Attorney Brad Lippert, who was traveling and did not immediately return a call or an email from The Associated Press seeking details on the shooting.
The archbishop said in his post that there was no ongoing threat to the community, but that he recognized the “pain and shock” the priest’s death had brought to the community of about 2,100 people in northeastern Kansas, about 60 miles north of Topeka and about 90 miles northwest of Kansas City.
“Fr. Carasala was a devoted and zealous pastor who faithfully served our Archdiocese for over twenty years, including as dean of the Nemaha-Marshall region,” he wrote. “His love for Christ and His Church was evident in how he ministered to his people with great generosity and care. His parishioners, friends, and brother priests will deeply miss him.”
