Shorewood, USA - Detectives investigating sex-abuse allegations against a Shorewood priest were on their way to interview him when he left a Joliet home where he was being monitored, went to a boarded-up church and apparently plunged from a 20-foot-high balcony.
The Rev. Alejandro Flores, 37, survived Wednesday's fall into the church pews below, but he suffered serious head injuries. He remained hospitalized in intensive care at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet on Thursday.
"Our diocese has suffered some tragedies this week which have saddened many people within the diocese and the entire community," Bishop J. Peter Sartain said Thursday.
Late Sunday night, the family of a 13-year-old boy contacted a priest regarding alleged sexual abuse by Flores. Monday morning, the priest contacted Sartain, who removed Flores from his position as parochial vicar at Holy Family Church in Shorewood.
Flores was taken to a diocese residence in Joliet where he was to be kept from contact with children and "closely monitored," Sartain said.
Church officials contacted the Department of Children and Family Services and the Kane County state's attorney's office about the reported abuse Monday.
Detectives were en route to Joliet to interview Flores when he left the residence on foot around 9 a.m. Wednesday. He was reported missing to Joliet police shortly before noon.
He went to the site of the former St. Mary's Carmelite Church, 113 N. Ottawa St. Flores had once lived in the priory next door.
He apparently went up into the choir loft and jumped 20 feet to the main floor below, landing on some pews. He was found by a priest and a diocese employee at 12:38 p.m.
Police reports said an officer found "a jacket, cell phone, glasses, large knife and a bottle of liquor" in the balcony.
A native of Bolivia, Flores attended Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wis., and worked during breaks at St. Mary's Parish in West Chicago. Flores was ordained in June and had been at Holy Family since.