NJ CHURCH SHOOTING SUSPECT ATTEMPTS JAILS SUICIDE

// January 14th, 2009 // Hott in the Headlines

the search for a better way to escape

Maer said the man had been hoarding medications and took a combination of prescription and nonprescription drugs including aspirin.

Joseph Pallipurath, left, appears in a Walton County courtroom for an extradition hearing Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008, in Monroe, Ga. Pallipurath was arrested at a motel last night in Monroe for allegedly killing his estranged wife and another man during a church service in New Jersey two days ago. Pallipurath, of Sacramento, is suspected of shooting and killing 24-year-old Reshma James inside the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton, a suburb about 15 miles west of Manhattan. Also killed was Dennis John Mallosseril, who maintained the church’s Web site. Witnesses said he had tried to intervene and break up the church rampage. (AP Photo/John Amis)

By John Charles Reedburg

Sometimes guilt is hard to face

Paterson, N.J. — Authorities in New Jersey say a man charged with killing his estranged wife and another person in a church service shooting has attempted to commit suicide in jail by overdosing on drugs.

Passaic County Sheriff’s Department spokesman William Maer said JOESEPH PALLIPURATH (PAL’-ee-PYOR’-ath) was hospitalized in stable condition Tuesday.
Maer said the man had been hoarding medications and took a combination of prescription and nonprescription drugs including aspirin.

The attempt was thwarted by a corrections officer who noticed that Pallipurath had vomited in his cell.

Pallipurath is charged with killing his wife and a man who came to her aid inside a Clifton church on Nov. 23. The wife’s cousin was critically wounded.