L.A. Monsignor Slain on Visit to San Diego
Msgr. Louis A. Gutierrez, who planned to celebrate his 30th anniversary this weekend as a Los Angeles priest, died early Tuesday in San Diego of gunshot wounds after an unknown assailant accosted him in his motel room.
Gutierrez, 61, was with another priest on a post-Easter break visiting relatives. The fellow priest, staying in an adjoining room, reported hearing a crashing sound and a door slamming about 6 a.m. in Gutierrez’s room at the Surfer Motor Lodge in Pacific Beach, San Diego Police Lt. Greg Clark said.
Clark said the other priest, who was not identified, opened the door and found the room ransacked and Gutierrez lying on the floor dressed in casual clothes and jogging shoes.
The coroner’s office said Gutierrez died at the scene of a gunshot wound to the head. Police said they have no suspects and no motive.
Only last week, Gutierrez had been assigned as pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Los Angeles, Msgr. Michael W. Meyers said. “Everyone here is in shock,” Meyers said.
Gutierrez had just finished serving nine years at St. Paul Parish in Los Angeles. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1964.
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