Fr. Kenneth Walker Murderer Arrested

Last Wednesday a young 28 year old Priest in Phoenix Arizona was murdered in his rectory and an older Priest in the same rectory was nearly beat to death.  Fr. Kenneth Walker is being remembered as a loving young Priest who shepherded so many people in the short time he was a Priest. It is shocking to hear of the death of a Priest in such a fashion.  Even though the media has tried its hardest to destroy the Catholic Church and the Priesthood, the world still holds a Priest in high esteem and we can see through the death of this young Priest, people from all walks of life banding together to pray for justice and healing in the community.

This morning the news circuits around the country have lit up after hearing that Police have arrested a suspect in the murder of Father Walker.  The suspect is Gary Michael Moran who was released from Prison in April after serving a 10 year sentence for assault and burglary.  Gary Morans DNA was picked up at the scene of the crime and also from the car that the Priest were driving that he stole upon killing Father Walker. What we need to do now is pray for this man.  Who knows what state of mind Gary Moran was in when he killed Fr. Walker.  Perhaps it was a robbery gone wrong, maybe he was on drugs, he will have to live for the rest of his life knowing that he not only killed a person, he killed a Priest.  He needs many prayers. For more on this story, please see below: http://ift.tt/1qkV0EL

Phoenix police confirmed the arrest of a suspect in the murder of Father Kenneth Walker, a Phoenix police spokesman said Monday morning via social media. A Phoenix police spokesman confirmed that investigators arrested a 54-year-old man with a history of aggravated assault and misconduct involving weapons on suspicion of killing the 28-year-old priest found dead in a rectory near downtown Phoenix last week. The spokesman confirmed the arrest of Gary Michael Moran hours before Valley residents honored Walker with a requiem Mass.

Moran was released from prison in April after having served the majority of a 10-year sentence for burglary and aggravated assault, according to court records.  Walker was murdered late Wednesday night in the rectory of a Catholic parish west of downtown Phoenix.  Phoenix police collected physical evidence from the Catholic church Walker was killed and another critically injured Wednesday night, but investigators spent the weekend developing more information about the crimes.  Walker, 28, was shot and killed and Father Joseph Terra, 56, was wounded at a Catholic church Wednesday night near the state Capitol, a Phoenix police spokesman said.

Police were responding to a burglary call shortly after 9 p.m. near 16th Avenue and Monroe Street at the Mater Misericordiae (Mother of Mercy) Mission, said Sgt. Steve Martos, a Phoenix police spokesman. Terra, the pastor, was identified as the priest who survived but remained in stable condition. Police said Terra was “physically harmed” but not stabbed or shot. Terra called 911, police said.  A car that police were seeking in connection with the attack was found at 17th Avenue and Taylor Street, about four blocks north of the church, Martos said. The car was unoccupied when it was found.

Walker was an ordained priest in the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter. He graduated from Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, a Catholic school located in Ontario, Canada, where he studied from 2003 to 2005 before moving to Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Neb. Walker ordained in 2012 in Nebraska. Terra comes from a family of nine children that grew up in the farming country around Lodi, Calif.  Before joining the priesthood, he worked in the honey business, hauling bees, said Father Jose Salgado, a priest who has known Terra for 23 years.  Salgado said Terra is built like a boxer and has a tough demeanor. “I wouldn’t want to take him on,” said Salgado, who celebrates the Latin Mass at St. Cecilia Church in Clarkdale.

Terra was instrumental in finding the vacant church building and making it the home of the Mother of Mercy Mission, said John Shannon, who now serves at a parish outside Topeka, Kan. The mission was established by Bishop Thomas Olmsted in 2005 to provide Latin Mass to the faithful in Arizona. The mission previously held services at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church. Its current location, west of downtown Phoenix, was dedicated in December 2010.

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