Death toll grows in 'Santa' massacre

Published on Friday 26 December 2008 11:15

A MAN plotting revenge against his ex-wife after an acrimonious divorce dressed up as Santa and murdered at least eight people at his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party.

It is feared the remains of Bruce Pardo's ex-wife and her parents are among the ashes of the home in Covina, California, which Pardo set on fire using a bizarre home-made device that sprayed flammable liquid.

Investigators ended their search for other possible victims early today and planned to return to the scene later.

Pardo, 45, who killed himself hours later, had no criminal record and no history of violence, according to police, but he was angry following last week's settlement of his divorce after a marriage that lasted barely a year.

"It was not an amicable divorce," Lt Pat Buchanan said.

Pardo chose to exact his revenge at the annual Christmas party his former in-laws held at their home.

"Christmases were that special time of the year, it meant so much to them," Rosa Ordaz, a family friend of the victims, said.

In past years, a neighbour dressed as Santa Claus and entertained guests. But the neighbour had moved away and there was no Santa – until Pardo arrived at about 11.30pm.

The massacre began when an eight-year-old girl answered the door.

Pardo, carrying what appeared to be a large present, pulled out a handgun and shot her in the face, then began shooting indiscriminately as about 25 partygoers tried to flee, police said.

A 16-year-old girl was shot in the back and a 20-year-old woman broke her ankle when she escaped by jumping from a second-storey window.

Those two, and the eight-year-old, remained in hospital today.

The gift-wrapped box Pardo was carrying contained a pressurised homemade device he used to spray a liquid that quickly sent the house up in flames, police said.

When the fire was extinguished early yesterday, officers found three charred bodies in the living room area.

"They were met with a scene that was just indescribable," police chief Kim Raney said. Investigators found three more bodies amid the ashes later in the day.

None of the dead or missing has been identified.

After the shootings, Pardo quickly removed the Santa suit and drove off, witnesses told police. He went to his brother's home about 25 miles away in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles. No one was home, so Pardo let himself in, police said.

Police were called to the home early Thursday, and officers found Pardo dead from a single bullet to the head.

The murder scene was in a cul-de-sac in Covina, a quiet suburb 25 miles east of Los Angeles.

Jeffrey Barrientos, who lives nearby, said the neighbourhood was composed of mostly retired, elderly people.

Jan Gregory, a neighbour of Pardo's in-laws, said about 25 people were at the party when gunshots rang out and people started running from the house.

She said she saw a teenage boy run out screaming: "They shot my family."