Attacker asked priest if he would hear his confession before assault
'This was in a church in the St Patrick's Avenue area of the town. A man entered the church and brutally attacked the priest with a bottle. The victim was taken to hospital for treatment to a head injury. Here, he remains in a serious, but stable, condition.
'While attending this serious assault, at around midday, police received a report of the death of a man at an address in the Marian Park area... sadly, the man, who is aged in his 50s, was pronounced dead at the scene.'
Police confirmed a 30-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder, as well as on suspicion of attempted murder, and remains in custody.
Det Chief Insp Robinson said: 'Our investigations into both the murder and attempted murder are at the early stages.
'While I can confirm that one line of inquiry is that the two are connected, I would reiterate that our inquiries are ongoing in an effort to establish the facts surrounding both incidents.
'I am keen to appeal to anyone who was in the St Patrick's Avenue area of Downpatrick between 9am and 11am on Sunday, or the Marian Park area between 12 midnight and 12 noon on Sunday, and saw or heard anything untoward, to please come forward and speak to us.
'Any detail, no matter how small, could be of vital importance to our investigation. I would ask anyone with information, CCTV or dash cam footage to contact us on 101, quoting reference 713 of 10/08/25.'
Prayers are to be offered for both the Brannigan family and Fr Murray at a service led by Bishop Alan McGuckian in St Colmcille's Church in Downpatrick on Tuesday morning.
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