Murder in an Indian Orthodox Church

It appears a man opened fire in an Indian Orthodox Church in Clifton, New Jersey, killing two people and wounding others. The news account says the suspect, 27-year-old Joseph M. Pallipurath of Sacramento, California, violated his estranged wife's restraining order and tracked her down in New Jersey. When she refused to leave with her husband, who reportedly abused her, he opened fire in the vestibule of St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church during Divine Liturgy.

He remains on the loose as of this writing.

His father is begging him to turn himself in. The same story talks about how waves of parishoners protected their priest, risking their own lives to save him. What a touching sign of their faith.

The cousin of the second victim counseled the gunman, "Turn yourself in." He added Pallipurath "has to get his punishment, whether it's from the justice system or from God."

May God lay to rest those who have died, and bring this man to justice. Justice, as the young man in today's news story states, awaits us all, whether at man's hand or that of God. Lord have mercy.

(I'm certain someone somewhere will interpret this charity toward a non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Christian as "proof" of my apostasy and write some rambling blog post against it. Let them. A shooting in any church is an abomination, especially one like this.)

Update: Federal marshals captured Pallipurath in the Atlanta, Georgia, area on November 24. I saw a bulletin on television around 9:30 p.m. Pacific time.