A gunman has fired shots inside a church in New Jersey and authorities say three people have been wounded, one critically.

The gunman opened fire just before noon Sunday inside the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton, in northern New Jersey.

Officials say some 200 people were attending a service inside the house of worship.

The New Jersey State Police and Passaic County law enforcement agencies say they are hunting for the gunman.

A law enforcement official says said the shooting may be a result of domestic violence.

Members of the church are mostly first-generation immigrants and their children from Kerala, India.