Gumleaf
November 24th, 2008, 05:02 AM
13:00 AEST Mon Nov 24 2008
A gunman drove across America to confront his estranged wife, then killed her as she left church on Sunday morning.
Two other people were injured in the attack, which sent churchgoers scrambling for safety.
The gunman fled, and police were searching for him and warned people that he is believed to be armed.
About 200 people were attending services inside St Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton, New Jersey, when the gunman opened fire.
Churchgoers described bedlam after the shots rang out.
"Kids were crying. People were screaming," Suja Alummoottil told The Record of Bergen County. "It was chaotic."
Police Detective Capt Robert Rowan identified the slain woman as 24-year-old Reshma James and the gunman as 27-year-old Joseph Pallipurath of Sacramento, California.
The other two victims were identified by The New York Post newspaper as Silvy Pericharil, a 47-year-old Sunday school teacher who was preparing for a lesson when the attack happened, and 25-year-old Dennis John, who tried to break up the fight.
Both are in critical condition at St Joseph's Regional Medical Centre in Paterson.
Alummoottil, 40, said Pallipurath appeared angry when he confronted James in the vestibule as the service was concluding. Alummoottil said she went to get help and, a few seconds later, heard three shots.
Rowan said James had recently moved from California to New Jersey to escape an abusive marriage and had filed a restraining order against Pallipurath.
Members of the church are mostly first-generation immigrants and their children from the southern Indian state of Kerala, according to the church's website.
A gunman drove across America to confront his estranged wife, then killed her as she left church on Sunday morning.
Two other people were injured in the attack, which sent churchgoers scrambling for safety.
The gunman fled, and police were searching for him and warned people that he is believed to be armed.
About 200 people were attending services inside St Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton, New Jersey, when the gunman opened fire.
Churchgoers described bedlam after the shots rang out.
"Kids were crying. People were screaming," Suja Alummoottil told The Record of Bergen County. "It was chaotic."
Police Detective Capt Robert Rowan identified the slain woman as 24-year-old Reshma James and the gunman as 27-year-old Joseph Pallipurath of Sacramento, California.
The other two victims were identified by The New York Post newspaper as Silvy Pericharil, a 47-year-old Sunday school teacher who was preparing for a lesson when the attack happened, and 25-year-old Dennis John, who tried to break up the fight.
Both are in critical condition at St Joseph's Regional Medical Centre in Paterson.
Alummoottil, 40, said Pallipurath appeared angry when he confronted James in the vestibule as the service was concluding. Alummoottil said she went to get help and, a few seconds later, heard three shots.
Rowan said James had recently moved from California to New Jersey to escape an abusive marriage and had filed a restraining order against Pallipurath.
Members of the church are mostly first-generation immigrants and their children from the southern Indian state of Kerala, according to the church's website.