Details released in shooting death of Father Arul Carasala

SENECA, Kan. (WIBW) - The man accused of killing Catholic priest Father Arul Carasala told the Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office that he “shot Father Arul,” an affidavit from the Nemaha County District Court stated.

According to the affidavit, Nemaha Co. Sheriff Richard Vernon was informed on April 3 at approximately 2:50 p.m. that dispatch took a 911 call that someone was shot near the Catholic church in Seneca, at 411 Pioneer St., about a block east of the Sheriff’s Office.

Court documents say Gary Hermesch, 66, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, arrived at the Nemaha Co. Sheriff’s Office shortly after dispatch was informed of the shooting. He allegedly got out of his vehicle and told a deputy that he needed to be arrested. When asked why by deputies, Hermesch said that he “just shot Father Arul,” the affidavit reads. The deputy then asked where Father Arul was and Hermesch said he was in front of the parish.

The deputy discovered Carasala lying on the ground in front of the rectory with blood coming from his head. The blood from his head was from an apparent gunshot wound. The affidavit stated that Carasala was alive at that time. Carasala was transported to a local hospital, where he later died.

After Carasala was transported from the scene, the sheriff asked the deputy in a phone call if he had located a gun since it appeared not to be at the scene and was concerned that somebody could get hurt if the gun was left behind. The deputy called the sheriff back and said that Hermesch told him it was in an orange bag in his vehicle.

The citizen who allegedly discovered Carasala told the sheriff he was outside to the north of the rectory in Seneca when they heard gunshots. They went around the rectory and found the priest bleeding and a vehicle was driving away from the rectory heading westbound. The citizen had indicated that they took a picture of the vehicle that drove away from the rectory.

Another citizen had stated that they witnessed a man shoot Carasala three times and then get into his vehicle and drive westbound away from the rectory.

The sheriff’s office then taped and secured the scene. Law enforcement checked the inside of the rectory to make sure no one else was injured since a bullet allegedly went through the east window on the south side of the rectory. Nobody else was located inside the home, according to court documents. Law enforcement took photos of the scene and put together a diagram of the scene of the shooting.

Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) officials arrived later to help with the investigation. The sheriff allegedly told the KBI that a search warrant was obtained for Hermesch’s vehicle and that a revolver was located by a deputy with three spent rounds in it.

KBI agents went to the Nemaha Co. Jail to interview Hermesch. Hermesch allegedly wouldn’t speak to the agents and requested a lawyer.

A Nemaha Co. deputy later arrived at the residence with a search warrant in an attempt to discover the bullet that had gone through the window on the southeast corner of the rectory. When law enforcement officials entered the house, they allegedly found a jacket from a bullet in the wall on the north side of the bedroom, found in the southeast corner of the rectory.

It appeared to officials that after the bullet went through the glass, the jacket had stripped off the lead part of the bullet and the lead part of the bullet traveled through the north wall of the southeast bedroom and entered the north wall of the living room, but did not travel out the other side.

The lead portion of the bullet was allegedly found in the wall’s insulation, a few inches beneath the entry hole. Two pieces of the bullet were then taken as evidence by a deputy, along with small cutouts of the sheetrock with bullet holes.

Authorities held the scene until 10:43 p.m.

Hermesch’s motive for killing Father Arul remains unknown.

He’s held in the Jackson Co. jail on $1M bond. A preliminary hearing is set for June 17.

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