Competency hearing scheduled for man charged in Kansas priest’s death

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Oklahoma man charged in the April 2025 shooting of a Seneca, Kansas, priest is now scheduled for a competency hearing in September.

A mental health evaluation was ordered by a judge for Gary L. Hermesch, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in November 2025. He was sent to Larned State Security Hospital for further competency evaluation following the release of his results in December 2025.

Hermesch is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Father Arul Carasala in the rectory at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church on April 3, 2025.

Officers were dispatched to the church and found Carasala with multiple gunshot wounds — he later died at the hospital from his injuries.

Not long after the shooting, Hermesch drove to the Nemaha County, Kansas, Sheriff’s Office and told police he shot Carasala and needed to be arrested, per court documents.

Hermesch’s competency hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sept. 3 at the Nemaha County Courthouse, according to a press release from the Nemaha County Attorney's Office.

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