CONCEPTION, MO. ? A 71-year-old man opened fire at a Roman Catholic abbey, killing a priest and a monk and seriously wounding two other monks before committing suicide in an abbey chapel, authorities said.

A spokeswoman for the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese said the diocese did not know if the shootings early Monday at Conception Abbey Benedictine monastery were related to the sex abuse scandal that has plagued the Catholic church for months.

Unidentified law enforcement personnel stand watch outside the monastery at the Conception Abbey. A Benedictine priest and monk were killed and two monks were wounded Monday when a gunman entered the building and opened fire on the men before killing himself. The diocese does not know whether the shootings at the Conception, Mo., abbey were related to the Catholic church sex abuse scandal, a spokeswoman said.

“We have no idea who this person is,” said Rebecca Summers, diocese spokeswoman. “There appears to be no explanation as to why this happened.”

The gunman was identified as Lloyd Robert Jeffress of Kearney. He opened fire at random in the halls around the business offices of the monastery about 8:40 a.m., said the Rev. Gregory Polan, abbot of the abbey. Polan said the monks barred themselves in their rooms when they realized they were hearing gunshots.

Authorities later found Jeffress dead, slumped over in a chapel pew. He had one self-inflicted gunshot wound to the temple. Authorities also found two weapons a MAC 90, a Chinese-made replica of the AK-47, and a 22.-caliber rifle near the body. The wooden butt of the .22-caliber weapon had been removed to make it easier to handle, officials said.

The Rev. Philip Schuster, 85, of Pilot Grove, and Brother Damian Larson, 64, of Wichita, Kan., were killed.

Schuster had been at the abbey more than 50 years, according to the Rev. Gregory Polan, the abbot at Conception. He was a “porter,” or greeter, at the monastery, and his job was to welcome visitors.

“St. Benedict says the abbots should appoint a wise man to greet the guests, and that he was,” Polan said. “Not only wise, but also gracious and welcoming.”

Larson was a meteorologist and a groundskeeper at the abbey. He was known as the “weather monk,” and his weather cartoons appear in several small northwestern Missouri newspapers.

The injured were identified as the Rev. Kenneth Reichert, 68, of Brunswick. He was shot in the stomach and was in surgery at St. Francis Hospital in Maryville. Reichert was an assistant to Abbot Polan.

Conception, Mo., abbey

The Rev. Norbert Schappler, 73, of Atchison, Kan., was in stable condition at Heartland Regional Medical Center. It was unclear how he was wounded. He oversees the dining room and also works as director at the printing house.

No students or faculty were on campus because the seminary had ended its academic year in mid-May.

Polan said the abbey had received no threatening letters or phone calls to hint that the attack was imminent. Authorities were seeking Jeffress’ daughter for information about a motive.

Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said officers had been sent to the suspect’s home about 70 miles south of the abbey to look for clues. They also scoured Jeffress’ car for clues, but found little. A brown box in Jeffress’ car had raised suspicions earlier but turned out to contain a fishing reel and some instructions for using a shooting range, Espey said.

He said it appears the monks were all shot with the AK-47, and that the suspect used a “cheap .22 rifle” to kill himself.

The suspect was dressed in blue jeans, a T-shirt and a blue baseball cap, Espey said.

“He looked like a normal, clean-cut person,” he said. “But obviously he wasn’t normal.”

Polan said he was shown the suspect’s driver’s license, but did not recognize him as an employee or as anyone with a connection to the abbey.