Chilling Confession Played For Jurors In Clifton Church Shooting
CLIFTON, N.J. (CBS 2) -- Jurors heard a confession Friday in a deadly shooting rampage inside a local church.
Defendant Joseph Pallipurath was tight-lipped at his murder trial, but had no trouble talking to investigators soon after his arrest for the 2008 shooting, reports CBS 2's Josh Landis.
"I swear if I had a [expletive] machine gun, I would have killed everybody," Pallipurath said. "I would have massacred the whole [expletive] church, that's how much anger I had."
In the video played by prosecutors, Pallipurath described stalking his estranged wife, Reshma James, and confronting her.
"I went up to her, and I was like, 'Reshma, I love you. I want you to come with me, and first of all you never gave me a chance. Come with me, because you're my wife,'" Pallipurath said.
When she refused, church member Dennis Mallosseril tried to help – but he became a victim himself.
"I pulled out my firearm, said, 'get the heck away man.' They were pulling her back forcefully," Pallipurath said. "I got pissed and I don't know where I shot the first shot. I shot him, but she was right there too…She dropped first."
Pallipurath allegedly fired the shots and fled the church, beginning a nationwide manhunt. He fled New Jersey and ended up in Georgia, where investigators caught him.
Of all the revelations, perhaps the most haunting was that James predicted her own death.
"She was calling me a killer. Every e-mail said I'm going to kill her – 'he's going to kill me, he's a killer,'" Pallipurath said.
The defense is arguing that Pallipurath didn't intend to kill anyone, despite the fact that he was fully armed and very angry.
A third person was wounded in the shooting. She'll face her accused shooter on Monday, when she takes the witness stand in the trial.