Violent ex-con arrested for killing Phoenix priest, beating another during church robbery
Gary Moran is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, burglary and armed robbery, among others charges in the killing of a Roman Catholic priest and the beating of a second pries.
The Rev. Kenneth Walker was shot and killed and the Rev. Joseph Terra was badly beaten and remains hospitalized from the Wednesday attack at the Mother of Mercy Mission Catholic church in Phoenix.
A homeless, fresh-out-of-prison “career criminal” was nabbed Sunday for killing an Arizona priest and wounding another as he robbed a Phoenix Catholic church last week, police said.
Gary Moran, 54, shot and killed Rev. Kenneth Walker, 28, and beat Rev. Joseph Terra, 56, nearly to death as he burglarized the Mother of Mercy Mission Catholic Church on Wednesday evening, police said.
The “violent felony offender” had been released from prison in late April after serving most of a 10-year sentence for stabbing a homeowner during a robbery in 2005, Phoenix Police Chief Daniel Garcia said Monday.
Moran has a history of assault, drug use and burglary that dates back at least to the 1980s. And police say DNA evidence ties him to the grisly crime scene at the Catholic church, where he made off with a camera and SUV after committing the heinous crime.
Rev. Kenneth Walker, left, and the Rev. Joseph Terra perform a Mass in Phoenix. Walker was killed and Terra was critically injured during a robbery attempt at Mother of Mercy Mission church Wednesday.
The ex-con beat Terra with a metal rod after the priest heard rustling in a church courtyard, police said in court documents.
Terra ran back to his bedroom, where he grabbed a gun from a bedside table, but was unable to shoot because of an injured finger. Moran wrestled the weapon away from him and “made him get on his hands and knees and told him to give him money,” said court records obtained by the Arizona Republic.
“Father Terra stated he blacked out and does not remember calling 911,” court records say. “The next thing he remembered was giving Father Walker absolution.”
Cops say Moran shot Walker with the .357-caliber gun several times in the church rectory before escaping in a stolen SUV, which he ditched blocks away from the crime scene.
Police on Monday arrested ex-convict Gary Michael Moran in the killing of a Roman Catholic priest and the beating of a second…
Terra was kept in the intensive care unit until Saturday, and remains hospitalized in stable condition, police said.
DNA evidence in the church and the stolen car linked Moran to the crime, cops said. And the transient later bragged about killing a priest to an acquaintance and gave another friend a bag with the stolen camera inside, police said.
Moran was arrested Sunday evening and made an initial appearance Monday morning, when he was ordered held in lieu of a $1 million bond. He is charged first-degree murder during the commission of a crime, first-degree burglary, armed robbery with a deadly weapon and several counts of theft.
AZCENTRAL.COM
Police believe the two priests were attacked during a burglary inside the Catholic church late Wednesday.
One priest was killed and another critically injured during an attack inside the Catholic church in Phoenix late Wednesday.
Moran admitted to the killing during an initial interview before he clammed up, investigators said.
The news of the arrest came as a memorial Mass for Walker began at a different Phoenix church Sunday evening.
“We’re relieved that he’s not out there doing it again and we hope some good comes out of it for him,” the man’s step sister, Sasha Keys, told the Associated Press. (America Daily News)