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http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/three_people_shot_inside_a_pas.html
Star-LedgerChurch member Elizabeth Alummottin of Oak Ridge collects her thoughts following a triple shooting at the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church. Alummottin said she was inside when the shooting occurred. She heard three shots, and then nothing else. A man shot and killed his estranged wife in a Passaic County church just before noon today, and opened fire on two other people before fleeing in a Jeep, police said.
Reshma James, 24, died of her injuries about 4 p.m., at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Paterson, Clifton police Detective Capt. Robert Rowan.
The two other victims, a 47-year-old woman, who was the younger woman's cousin, and a 23-year-old man, remain in extremely critical condition at St. Joseph's Medical Center.
All three were shot in the head, Rowan said.
The gunman, identified as 27-year-old Joseph "Sanish" Pallipurath of Sacramento, Calif, opened fire in the vestibule of St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church, an Asian-Indian house of worship, authorities said.
Police believe Pallipurath drove to the church from his home in California.
About 200 people were believed to be inside the sanctuary at the time for a service, Rowan said.
Police are still searching for Pallipurath, who they said escaped in a 1994 green, soft-topped Jeep with California license plate No. 5HJD200. He is believed to still have the silver handgun he used in the shooting and is considered dangerous, police said.
James had escaped what police say was an abusive marriage. The abuse dated to their years in India, then continued after they moved to California, police said. Most recently, James had left him to live with a relative in New Jersey, where she filed a restraining order against her husband, Rowan said.
The document wasn't enough to deter Pallipurath, who confronted his wife and the two others in the church vestibule, toward the end of a three-hour Sunday service, Rowan said. It was unclear why the three victims were not with the rest of the congregation, in the sanctuary.
Once inside the church, Pallipurath confronted his wife, and after a brief argument, opened fire on all three.
Multiple 911 calls appear to have been made from the church.
Numerous law enforcement agencies descended on the scene and have been searching for the shooter.
According to the church website, members are mostly first-generation immigrants from India, and their children. They had belonged to St. Peter's parish in Yonkers, N.Y., according to the website. The congregation moved into the current location in 2000, making it the largest church in the North American Knanaya Community.
Clifton Mayor Jim Anzaldi said he heard about the shooting while attending Sunday service in a different church.
"It's a shock, that somebody would have gone into a church like that," he said. "You always hear about those things happening out west. It's a terrible thing."
