KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Court documents released Friday revealed that an Oklahoma man accused of shooting and killing a priest on April 3 told authorities that "he needed to be arrested" shortly after the incident.
The Nemaha County Sheriff's Office in Seneca, Kansas, about two hours northwest of the Kansas City area, received a call just before 3 p.m. on a report of shots fired near the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, approximately one block east of the Nemaha County Sheriff's Office.
KSHB 41 News was one of several media outlets to request a Kansas District Court judge unseal the criminal affidavit filed in support of first-degree murder charges against Gary L. Hermesch.
According to the affidavit, following the shooting, a man later identified as Hermesch pulled up in a vehicle outside the Sheriff's Office.
Hermesch then got out of the vehicle and told the undersheriff that he needed to be arrested.
The undersheriff asked Hermesch what for and Hermesch said that he had just shot Fr. Arul Carasala, the pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church.
The Nemaha County Sheriff later found Carasala lying on the ground in front of the church rectory suffering from a gunshot wound.
He was stretchered into an ambulance on the scene by emergency medical personnel and died at the Nemaha Valley Community Hospital due to his injuries.
Authorities could not find the gun at the scene, prompting them to ask Hermesch where it was. Hermesch told authorities that the gun was in an orange bag in his vehicle.
According to court documents, a witness who lived near the church said that she saw a man shoot Carasala three times and then get into his vehicle and drive west on Pioneer Street before stopping in front of the police station.
After obtaining a search warrant for Hermesch's vehicle, a Nemaha County Sheriff's Office deputy said that a revolver had been found inside the vehicle with three spent rounds.
Two Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents went to the Nemaha County Jail to interview Hermesch, but he would not speak with them and had requested a lawyer.
Earlier this week, prosecutors and Hermesch's attorney agreed to a delay in the preliminary hearing. That hearing is now set for June 17.
In the meantime, Hermesch remains in the nearby Jackson County, Kansas, Jail on a $1 million bond.
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