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Arrest made in fatal shooting of Seneca priest

By Greg Bebermeyer

04/03/2025

Gary Hermesch/Credit: Nemaha Co Sheriff's Office

(KMZA)--A Tulsa, Oklahoma man is jailed after a catholic priest was shot and killed in Seneca Thursday afternoon.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said 66-year-old Gary Hermesch was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder and booked into the Nemaha County Jail shortly after the shooting that killed 57-year-old Father Arul Carasala.

According to the KBI, a 911 call was placed around 2:50 reporting shots fired at the Sts. Peter and Paul catholic Church rectory in Seneca.

Deputies from the Nemaha County Sheriff's Office and Seneca Police Department responded, where they discovered Carasala outside the residence suffering from gunshot wounds.

He was transported by EMS to the Nemaha Valley Community Hospital, where he died despite life-saving measures.

The KBI is assisting the Nemaha County Sheriff's Office in investigating the fatal shooting.

The local Knights of Columbus held a rosary service Thursday evening for Carasala at the church and a mass followed in his honor.

According to his profile on the parish website, Carasala had served as pastor of the Sts.Peter and Paul Church since July 2011.

He was ordained as a priest in 1994 in his native India and had served in Kansas since 2004.

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