The Rev. Arul Carasala was found outside his parish rectory with gunshot wounds on Thursday, officials said. An Oklahoma man was arrested, though a motive remained unknown.

Father Arul Carasala, a longtime Kansas priest, was fatally shot Thursday in Seneca, Kansas. Carasala, a pastor in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and leader at Saints Peter and Paul Parish, was killed in what Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann called a “senseless act of violence.” Carasala had served the archdiocese for more than 20 years.

Students at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School were outside, playing feet from where their priest, the Rev. Arul Carasala, was gunned down.

The 57-year-old priest was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died. Sheriff’s deputies and officers with the Seneca Police Department later arrested Gary Hermesch of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Authorities say Hermesch,

An Oklahoma man is jailed on suspicion of fatally shooting a Kansas priest outside his rectory in Seneca, authorities say.

A Tulsa man is in custody, accused of fatally shooting a Catholic priest in Seneca, Kansas. Authorities say 66-year-old Gary L. Hermesch was arrested Thursday after a shooting at the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church rectory.