US priest killed in robbery in Guatemala

Guatemala City, Guatemala - A U.S. priest with ties to southern Illinois has been killed by robbers in northern Guatemala.

The Rev. Lawrence Rosebaugh of Milwaukee, Wis., was shot several times yesterday by masked gunmen who stopped a car carrying him and four other missionaries to a meeting in Playa Grande, Guatemala.

A Congolese priest was also wounded in the attack.

Rosebaugh studied at the former St. Henry's Preparatory seminary in Belleville during the late 1950s. The 74-year-old returned to the region often and planned to retire there in a few years.

A member of Rosebaugh's missionary group in Guatemala says the thieves took $125, a cell phone and religious ornaments.

Rosebaugh put an international spotlight on human rights abuses in Brazil in the 1970s.