Alleged church shooter sought anonymity in Ga. town

Alleged church shooter sought anonymity in Ga. town NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) After gunning down his wife, her cousin and a would-be rescuer in a Clifton, N.J., church, Joseph Pallipurath dumped his pistol, abandoned his Jeep and stepped aboard a bus with the hopes of fading into obscurity, said authorities who nabbed the accused fugitive early […]

Alleged church shooter sought anonymity in Ga. town


NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) After gunning down his wife, her cousin and a would-be rescuer in a Clifton, N.J., church, Joseph Pallipurath dumped his pistol, abandoned his Jeep and stepped aboard a bus with the hopes of fading into obscurity, said authorities who nabbed the accused fugitive early Tuesday (Nov. 25).

His destination was Monroe, Ga., in rural Walton County, a sleepy town of about 20,000 residents that boasts a historic downtown and classic Southern antebellum homes.

“He said that this was just a square little town he thought he could get lost in. He knew someone who used to live here, and he got a room down at the Monroe Motor Inn,” Walton County Deputy District Attorney Eric Crawford said. “The fact he ended up in our small town was kind of amazing. We’re not on any main road you would travel.”

Pallipurath had relatives in Atlanta, and one lived in the Walton County area years ago, authorities said. His simple escape plan could have stumped fugitive hunters for a long time, said Passaic County Prosecutor James Avigliano, had authorities not gotten a tip.

“Then it was a matter of regular police work,” he said. “They just canvassed all the hotels and motels in the area, and one of the motel clerks said his picture matched a guy who had checked in.”

Georgia authorities believe Pallipurath, 27, arrived in town Monday afternoon, after taking a bus from New Jersey to Atlanta, where he boarded another bus headed for Savannah-by way of Monroe. When Monroe police and U.S. marshals went to the door of his motel room, Pallipurath answered and quietly surrendered.

“He was taken without incident,” Crawford said. “And he gave about an hour-and-a- half-long statement, pretty much detailing everything.”

Adding a chilling detail to the tragedy, Crawford said Pallipurath told investigators he would have killed everyone in the church if he’d had a machine gun. He allegedly said he was unhappy church members were blocking his attempts to contact his wife, who had left him three months ago.

The alleged killer had been renting a room for two weeks and plotting his actions, which culminated in the shootings at St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church just after 11:30 a.m. Sunday.


Avigliano also said Pallipurath, who is being held without bail in the Walton County Detention Center, confessed to the shootings and gave police information about his drive from his home in Sacramento, Calif., to New Jersey to pursue his estranged wife, 24-year-old Reshma James.

James died after being shot in the head at point-blank range, as did Dennis John Malloosseril of Hawthorne. Authorities said Malloosseril, 25, was shot as he tried to intervene in Pallipurath’s attempts to get his wife to leave the church vestibule.

Also shot, and still hospitalized in grave condition, was James’ cousin, 47-year-old Silvy Perincheril of Hawthorne, who also tried to intervene.

The victims and Pallipurath all were part of a close-knit community of immigrant Christians from the southwestern Indian state of Kerala. The immigrant church is associated with a southern Indian diocese of the Syrian Orthodox Christian Church.

Pallipurath has been charged with two counts of homicide.

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