Officials from the church said that a Catholic priest in Seneca, Kansas, was fatally shot by a man on Thursday who approached him as he sat at his rectory.

“I am deeply saddened to announce the tragic death of Fr. Arul Carasala, who was fatally shot earlier today,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, wrote in a post on Facebook. “This senseless violence has left us mourning the death of a beloved leader and priest.”

Carasala was the pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Seneca, according to the profile on his parish website. He was ordained a priest in India in 1994 and served in Kansas from 2004. He became a U.S. Citizen in 2011.

According to a post on the parish’s Facebook page, the priest was killed at the church rectory shortly after the shooting.

The post stated that “a suspected shooter has been taken into custody.”

Gary L. Hermesch (66) of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been arrested and jailed for first-degree homicide. This is connected to the death of Carasala. Hermesch is not yet formally charged.

The Associated Press reported that Kris Anderson, director of religious instruction at the parish, said they had little information.

She said, “From what we can tell, an older gentleman walked up to the priest and shot him 3 times,” adding that she did not know who shot him or why he was shot.

The people answering the phone at the Seneca Police Department as well as the Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office, refused to comment. They referred all calls to Brad Lippert, who was on vacation and didn’t immediately respond to an email or a phone call from The Associated Press.

In his blog post, the archbishop stated that the community was not under threat, but he acknowledged the “pain” and “shock” that the death of the priest had caused to the 2,100 residents of northeastern Kansas. The community is located about 60 miles north-northeast of Kansas City and 90 miles northwest of Topeka.

“Fr. Carasala was a devoted and zealous pastor who faithfully served our Archdiocese for over twenty years, including as dean of the Nemaha-Marshall region,” he wrote. “His love for Christ and His Church was evident in how he ministered to his people with great generosity and care. His parishioners, friends, and brother priests will deeply miss him.”