Indian-Origin Catholic Priest Arul Carasala Shot Dead In Kansas, 1 Charged

An Oklahoma man has been charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a Catholic priest at a church rectory in northeast Kansas, authorities said Friday.

Officers called to the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Seneca on Thursday afternoon found Arul Carasala with gunshot wounds outside the rectory, the Nemaha County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post. The 57-year-old priest was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died.

Sheriff's deputies and officers with the Seneca Police Department later arrested Gary Hermesch of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hermesch, 66, was charged Friday and held in the Nemaha County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond, County Attorney Brad Lippert said Friday in a written statement.