Fr. Stephen Gutgsell fatally stabbed in St. John the Baptist Catholic Church rectory

A Catholic priest from a small Nebraska city was fatally knifed by a suspect who broke into the church’s rectory early Sunday morning, according to authorities and church officials.

Sheriff deputies found Father Stephen Gutgsell with stab wounds around 5 a.m. after he was allegedly attacked by Kierre Williams inside St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.

Gutgsell was rushed to University of Nebraska Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Williams, 43, of Sioux City, Iowa, was still in the rectory when authorities arrived, and was arrested for homicide and use of a weapon to commit a felony, the sheriff’s office said.

Law enforcement were initially called to the scene for an attempted break-in at the church located in Fort Calhoun, a city of about 1,000 that is 20 miles north of Omaha.

The Archdiocese of Omaha said in a statement Gutgsell was assaulted during an “invasion at the rectory” at the church.

“Please join Archbishop George Lucas in prayer for the repose of Father Gutgsell, for his family and for the St. John the Baptist parish community in this tragic time,” the archdiocese said in a statement, according to Omaha World-Herald.

St. John the Baptist parishioner Mike Fitzgerald told the Omaha-World-Herald the usual 8:30 a.m. Mass was called off. He remembered Gutgsell, who was at the church for 11 years, as a “very holy man.”

“He did a lot of things for the community,” he said. “He always made sure that the (church) bulletin had everything we needed to know about things going on at the church.”

More than a decade ago, Gutgsell pleaded guilty to theft by deception in 2007 for embezzling $127,000 from an area church and was sentenced to probation and restitution.

He was reassigned to another church after church leaders said then he learned his lesson and sought forgiveness.

Washington Sheriff Mike Robinson told WOWT-TV his office did not believe Gutgsell’s death was related to his past criminal trouble.

Authorities said Sunday further information would come from the Washington County District Attorney’s Office.

With Post wires