Funeral held for man in church shooting

CLIFTON St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church, the scene of the shooting that killed two last Sunday, became a place of mourning.

On Thursday and Friday, friends and family streamed into St. Thomas for a wake Dennis John Mallosseril. He was buried on Saturday.

Witnesses said he was shot dead while trying to quell a dispute between 24-year-old Reshma James and her estranged husband, Joseph Palliparuth. James was also killed.

Her cousin, Silvy Perincheril, was critically wounded. She remained in a coma at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson.

Palliparuth, who lived in Sacramento, Calif., was arrested Tuesday in Georgia on charges of homicide, attempted homicide, aggravated assault and weapons offenses. He is expected to be returned to Passaic County next week.

Mallosseril was two days short of his 26th birthday when he was killed.

He was remembered as an emerging leader in the church who organized an annual football game for members around this time of year and taught religious songs to the congregation's children.

He had a bachelor's degree from William Paterson University and was studying for an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

In a eulogy, one cousin called him "the life of our church and our community."

James' family is planning to return her body to India, where she grew up, for a burial.

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