Bishop David O’Connell was a Roman Catholic bishop in southern California. He was shot and killed just blocks from a church, a slaying of a longtime priest hailed as a “peacemaker” that has stunned the Los Angeles religious community.

O’Connell, 69, had been a priest for 45 years and was a native of Ireland. Pope Francis had named him one of several auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles — the largest in the country — in 2015.

The Most Reverend David G. O’Connell was the Episcopal Vicar of the San Gabriel Pastoral Region, one of the five Pastoral Regions in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He was appointed Titular Bishop of Cell Ausaille and Auxiliary Bishop in 2015.

Bishop O’Connell received a BA in Philosophy and English Literature from the University College Dublin in 1975, a Bachelor of Divinity from Maynooth College in 1977, and a Masters of Spirituality from Mount St. Mary’s College in 1987.

Since his ordination to the priesthood, he’s served as Associate Pastor at St. Raymond in Downey, St. Maria Goretti in Long Beach, and St. Hillary in Pico Rivera, and then as Pastor of St. Frances X. Cabrini, Ascension Catholic Church, St. Eugene and St. Michael Parishes.

Bishop O’Connell worked in South Los Angeles for years and focused on gang intervention. He later sought to broker peace between residents and law enforcement following the violent 1992 uprising after a jury acquitted four white LA police officers in the beating of Rodney King, a Black man. Nearly two decades later, he brought the San Gabriel Valley community together to rebuild a mission there after an arson attack.

Members of his community spoke of him this way:

“He was a peacemaker and had a passion serving those in need while improving our community. He didn’t hold back his words. He was well spoken. He would take the time. He was very humble. He was never too busy.”

Bishop David O’Connell has met a tragic, untimely death after spending his life trying to help others. He will never be forgotten as he becomes part of “In Heaven with the Stars.”