Police arrested a suspect after a Roman Catholic priest was shot and killed in Seneca, Kansas, on Thursday.
The suspect was Gary L. Hermesch, 66, who police arrested and jailed on possible first-degree murder, according to a news release from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
The priest in question was 57-year-old Father Arul Carasala.
“I am heartbroken to share the tragic news of the death of Fr. Arul Carasala, who was fatally shot earlier today,” Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann wrote in a Facebook post. “This senseless act of violence has left us grieving the loss of a beloved priest, leader, and friend.”
At around 2:50 p.m. that afternoon, police responded to a complaint about gunshots at the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church rectory, where Carasala lived.
Upon arrival, the Seneca Police Department discovered Carasala wounded with gunshots.
NEW: A Catholic priest in Kansas was shot and killed outside his church yesterday.
Father Arul Carasala was approached by Gary Lee Hermesch outside the rectory of Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Seneca — about two hours northwest of Kansas City — and shot three times. He… pic.twitter.com/mdtCW7WMiZ
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) April 4, 2025
Seneca EMS took Carasala to the Nemaha Valley Community Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Hermesch, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was arrested shortly after.
At first, KBI said Hermesch had not yet been formally charged, but officials on Friday announced that he was, according to the Associated Press.
Authorities have not yet released a motive for the shooting.
“From what we know, an older man walked up to him and shot him three times,” Kris Anderson, the director of religious education at the parish, told the outlet.
Carasala became pastor at the parish in 2011, just after becoming an American citizen, according to the church website.
He was ordained a priest in 1994 for the Diocese of Cuddapah, which is in India.
“In this time of sorrow, let us entrust Fr. Carasala to the mercy of God and lift up in prayer his family in Cuddapah, India, his parish community at Saints Peter and Paul in Seneca, and all who mourn his passing. Let us also pray for the perpetrator, that God may touch and transform his heart,” Naumann wrote in his Facebook post.
The night of Carasala’s death, the congregation prayed a rosary for him, which was followed by a mass at the parish, according to a Facebook post from the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.
“Let us entrust Fr. Arul to God’s mercy and lift up in prayer his family, parishioners, friends, and brother priests. May we also pray for the conversion of heart for the perpetrator. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him,” the archdiocese statement read.
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