Gunman in Santa suit kills three at L.A. party

[eastcoastS14]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A man dressed as Santa Claus showed up at a Christmas Eve party at a suburban Los Angeles house and opened fire with a handgun, killing three people and wounding two, police said on Thursday.

The only suspect in Wednesday night's shooting in Covina, California, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, later committed suicide and his body was found at a relative's house in nearby Sylmar, police said.

"He died of self-inflicted wounds. We believe it was a marital dispute," said Lt. Pat Buchanan of the Covina Police Department.

The house caught fire during the shooting and was engulfed in flames when police arrived.

The two people wounded by gunfire included an 8-year-old girl and both were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, Buchanan said. A third person was hospitalized with a broken leg, he said.

Police have not identified the dead yet, Buchanan said.

Witnesses among the 30 people attending the party told police that Pardo stripped off his Santa costume after the shooting and fled in street clothes.



some sick and twisted shit....also last i heard the body count was 6

[TiNMAN]

thats hella shitty

[mayco_86]

thats some crazy shit!!!!

[muddafakka]

Something like this always happens around Christmas.

[eastcoastS14]

yeah apparently the guys ex wife was ther and the house was owned by relatives.....he shot 6ppl then set the house on fire

[WERDdabuilder]

well...looks like he'll be getting a lump of coal in his stocking this year.

[1ZlowZ]

He killed himself

[Aeroscraper326]

Wow. Deep shit.

[illxs14]

dam.. shows you what kind of people are out there.

[brndck]

official body count is 8 ppl.
gunman lit the house on fire and killed himself as well
\/\/\/\/ latest update from yahoo news
Man in Santa suit kills 8, self on Christmas Eve - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081226/ap_on_re_us/santa_shooting)

[HyperTek]

dam what a piece of shit low life!!!

He blasted a little girl... what a fucker

choose who you invite to parties or hang around wisely

[LeftNutOfGowd]

COVINA, Calif. – The bloodbath began when an 8-year-old girl attending a Christmas Eve party answered a knock at the door. A man dressed as Santa and carrying what appeared to a present pulled out a handgun and shot her in the face, then began shooting indiscriminately as partygoers tried to flee.

By the time it was over, at least eight people at the party were dead and the house was torched. The gunman killed himself hours after exacting revenge against his ex-wife by going on a massacre at his former in-laws' home.

Bruce Pardo's ex-wife and her parents were believed to be among the dead. At daybreak Friday, investigators planned to resume searching what was left of their two-story home on a cul-de-sac in a quiet Covina neighborhood 25 miles east of Los Angeles.

Pardo, 45, 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," police Lt. Pat Buchanan said.

Investigators seeking further information about Pardo's motives have begun searching his home in the suburban Los Angeles community of Montrose.

Police said he showed up at his former in-laws' home around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday for their annual Christmas party.

The gift-wrapped box Pardo was carrying actually contained a pressurized homemade device he used to spray a liquid that quickly sent the house up in flames. Police said Pardo had recently worked in the aerospace industry.

David Salgado, a neighbor, said he saw the 8-year-old victim being escorted to an ambulance by four SWAT team members as flames up to 40 feet high consumed the house.

"It was really ugly," Salgado said.

Another neighbor, Jan Gregory, said she saw a teenage boy flee the home, screaming "They shot my family!"

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-story window. Those two, and the 8-year-old, remained hospitalized. All were expected to recover.

When the fire was extinguished early Thursday, 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 five more bodies amid the ashes later in the day and planned to return Friday to continue looking.

None of the dead or missing has been identified. Authorities were unable to immediately determine whether the victims were killed by the flames or the gunfire.

Following the shootings, Pardo quickly got out of 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 of a single bullet to the head. Two handguns were found at the scene, and two more were discovered in the wreckage of his former in-laws' house.

A car that Pardo apparently parked near his brother's home exploded Thursday evening and more ammunition was found in it, Los Angeles police Sgt. Francisco Wheeling said. She had no immediate details on what set off the explosion. No one was hurt.

Pardo's next-door neighbor, who did not want her name published to protect her privacy, said he moved in more than a year ago with a woman and a child. She said they kept mostly to themselves and the woman later moved out with the child.

Pardo was often seen walking a dog around the neighborhood and working on his lawn, the neighbor said.

He also served regularly as an usher at evening Mass at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Montrose, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Jan Detanna, the head usher at the church, was stunned when told about the violence.

"I'm just — this is shocking," Detanna told the Times. "He was the nicest guy you could imagine. Always a pleasure to talk to, always a big smile."

Bong Garcia, another of Pardo's next-door neighbors, told the Times he saw Pardo between 9 and 10 p.m. Christmas Eve and spoke briefly to him. Pardo told him he was on his way to a Christmas party, Garcia said.

[Flicktitty]

I saw that shit on News last night.
Very sad.

[Phlip]

Wow, I saw this on the news last night at my sister's, but I was a little inebriated, so I didn't quite take it all in.
That is freaking NUTS dude.

[SimpleS14]

wow...that is a truly horrid story. This guy must have had bottled up rage and anger through the course of his life and just snapped.

man...i'm just in shock and awe....feel sad for the families (especially the kids).

R.I.P.

[YoungGun]

So sad.

RIP

[ByeByeSti]

damn thats so wackk, like seriously on christmas eve. ya just divorced and all but seriously thats so messed up to ever pull shit like that. cali is way to crazy and out of hand without a doubt. r.i.p

[HyperTek]

someone probably pissed him off on zilvia about his car lol

jk, but lets be nice to people even online lol