Trump supporter who wanted to 'make the Church great again' charged with killing priest

A man who was recently charged with murdering a priest in Seneca, Kansas, has a long history of writing letters to his local newspaper in which he expressed support for President Donald Trump.

Local news station KSNT reported that 66-year-old Oklahoma man Gary Hermesch, who was arrested by police last week for the alleged fatal shooting of 57-year-old Seneca-based Father Arul Carasala, regularly wrote letters referencing Trump to the local Courier-Tribune newspaper.

In one 2021 letter, for example, Hermesch recommended that readers "just follow Donald Trump’s example" to "make the Church great again."

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In another letter, Hermesch compared Trump to former President John F. Kennedy in the sense that both men were "always 'the man,' whether it be a debate, speech, press conference, or whatever."

In the same letter, he also disparaged then-President Joe Biden for being a "capitulating weak puppy."

None of the letters provide any concrete motivation on why he might have targeted Carasala, whom police allege he shot multiple times on April 3.

Hermesch currently faces a charge of first-degree murder.