Deadly Shooting At Church Service

200 People Were Inside

Gunman Opens Fire in New Jersey Church AP
posted: 54 MINUTES AGOcomments: 425filed under: Crime News, National NewsPrintShareText SizeAAACLIFTON, N.J. (Nov. 23) – A gunman entered a northern New Jersey church during Sunday services and shot three people in the vestibule, killing his estranged wife and injuring the other two before fleeing, authorities said.
'I Came to Take My Wife'


Police were searching for 27-year-old Joseph M. Pallipurath of Sacramento, Calif., after the shooting at St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton. He was last seen driving a green Jeep Wrangler, police said.
Detective Capt. Robert Rowan told The Star-Ledger of Newark that the victim, 24-year-old Reshma James, had recently moved from California to escape an abusive marriage and had filed a restraining order against Pallipurath.
When he came to into the church, Pallipurath said "I came to take my wife," a witness told The Star-Ledger. Authorities believe he acted alone.
About 200 people were attending services in the sanctuary of the church, whose members are mostly first-generation Indian immigrants and their children.
All three victims were shot in the head, Rowan said. The other two victims, a 47-year-old woman and 23-year-old man, were in critical condition, he told the newspaper.
A spokeswoman for St. Joseph's Medical in Paterson, where the victims were being treated, declined to comment on their conditions.
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2008-11-23 16:58:36

Lets pray for the victim, the felon and their families after such a tragic loss.