Search continues for church shooting suspect

hSearch continues for church shooting suspect

CLIFTON, N.J. — Joseph M. Pallipurath went halfway around the world to India to find a wife last year. Now the California man is accused of going across the country to New Jersey to kill her.

Reshma James had left Pallipurath, had filed a restraining order against him and was living with a distant cousin. Police say the two women were in church Sunday when Pallipurath confronted them and started shooting.

James was killed, and her cousin, Silvy Perincheril, was in “extremely critical” condition, police said. Dennis John Mallosseril, who witnesses said had tried to intervene, was shot in the head and died later Sunday in a hospital.

Authorities were conducting a nationwide manhunt for Pallipurath, who fled in a green 2004 Jeep with California license plates and a black soft top. The search was centering on Georgia, where the suspect has relatives.

James’ aunt, Maria Joseph, says the 27-year-old Pallipurath had grown up in the United States before going to India last year to find a wife. He married James, 24, in the largely Christian state of Kerala, where a group of Knanaya Christians from Syria settled some 1,700 years ago.

Former aide to Joe Biden picked to fill Senate seat

WILMINGTON, Del. — Edward “Ted” Kaufman, a former aide to Sen. Joe Biden, was named Monday by Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner to fill the Senate seat Biden is leaving for the vice presidency.

Kaufman is president of a political and management consulting firm based in Wilmington. Kaufman served on Biden’s Senate staff from 1973 to 1994, including 19 years as chief of staff. He is an advisory board member to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team.

Speculation on Biden’s successor had centered in recent weeks on his son, Attorney General Beau Biden. Last week, however, the younger Biden announced that he planned to fulfill his National Guard duties and wouldn’t accept an appointment to his father’s U.S. Senate seat.

Associated Press