A critically wounded Catholic priest administered the last rites to his dying colleague after they were shot in their church in Arizona.
An intruder or intruders broke into the Mother of Mercy church around 9.30pm on Wednesday. A 911 emergency call for burglary was made by Father Joseph Terra, as he comforted his dying fellow clergyman, Father Kenneth Walker.
"How can a person break into a church? How can a person assault a man of the cloth? How can a person take a person's life, especially a priest? It's sad," said local councillor Mike Nowakowski.
Phoenix police chief Daniel Garcia called the attack a "tragic and appalling criminal violation". He said investigators had some "strong physical evidence", but no eyewitness accounts and no knowledge of how many intruders were involved.
"At this point, we have no information as to whether it's a suspect or suspects," he told reporters, adding: "It was called in as a burglary, but I want to be cautious to label anything."
The two clerics had lived at the church for four years, and Walker was "a pretty strong man", said Father Fred Adamson of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, who confirmed that Terra had given the last rights to his colleague.
"Father Terra was able to absolve him and to offer the last rites, obviously a great deal of comfort and consolation to us as Catholics. He was able to extend that in his own suffering," he said.
Terra, 56, was hospitalised in critical condition with unspecified injuries.
Authorities had no suspects or solid leads as of Thursday afternoon. They searched the neighbourhood, interviewed the injured priest and examined physical evidence from the scene.
A 2003 Mazda belonging to Walker was found abandoned a few blocks from the church. Police were investigating whether the suspect or suspects took the vehicle and left it behind after the crime.
As police investigated the crime scene at the church, about a dozen parishioners gathered across the street, kneeling on the footpath and reciting the rosary. A bouquet of flowers and a photograph of Walker, 28, lay on the footpath.
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