Jude says Joseph was hot-tempered, egoistic, and would drink and beat up Reshma. He would reportedly also lock her up inside their apartment.

The Clifton police confirmed that active restraining orders had been issued in California and New Jersey against Joseph on the basis of complaints by his wife. Detective Capt Robert Rowan said it appeared Joseph had driven down from California to try to force Reshma to return with him.

Also shot in the attack were Reshma’s relative, Silvy Perincheril, 47, who is the principal of the church’s Sunday school, and Dennis John Malloosseril, 23, a church director. They are both in a criticial condition.

The Malloosseril family has been residing in New Jersey for the last three decades. Dennis, 26, is their only son. According to his family, Dennis might have tried to stop Joseph from taking away Reshma, and that’s the reason he may have been shot.

Perincheril, 47, also a nurse like Reshma, migrated to the US 25 years ago after marrying Thampi, a railway employee there. They have two sons and a daughter. After Reshma left Joseph, she had been living with Perincheril, a cousin.

The church where the shootout happened is the place of worship for around 60 families of first-generation Indian immigrants and their children. They were near the end of their service, when Joseph arrived. Suja Alummoottil, 40, of Stockholm, New Jersey, said he interrupted to say he was Reshma’s husband and had come to take her home. “He was telling her, ‘I’ve been roaming around without my wife for too long’.”

... contd.