In a bizarre Christmas Eve rampage in a Los Angeles suburb, a 45-year-old man in a Santa Claus outfit opened fire on a gathering of his in-laws and then methodically set their house ablaze, killing at least six people and injuring several others, the authorities said on Thursday.
In adition, three people who were at the party in the suburb of Covina — including the couple who owned the home and the former wife of the suspect — were missing, the police said.
The suspect, identified by witnesses as Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, later killed himself in front of his brother's house in Sylmar, about 40 miles from the scene of the shootings, the police said.
Witnesses said Pardo, armed with cans of accelerant, went to the house looking for his former wife, Sylvia, with whom he had been entangled in a bitter divorce..
The frenzied shooting occurred just before midnight Wednesday at a two-story home on a cul de sac in Covina, a middle-class town about 22 miles east of Los Angeles. People who escaped the home, including one woman who broke an ankle as she leapt out of a second-floor window, said they had gathered for a family celebration.
At least three bodies were initially discovered inside the home, and coroners found "several" more bodies as they went through the rubble on Thursday morning, according to The Associated Press.
Investigators said that about 30 people, among them many children, were inside the home celebrating on Christmas Eve when Pardo knocked on the door. The gathering was a tradition for the family, an annual holiday party, and Pardo had apparently disguised himself as hired entertainment to gain access. When a guest opened the door, Pardo stepped inside the house, pulled out a handgun, and immediately started shooting, Lieut. Pat Buchanan of the Covina Police Department said in a telephone interview.
Officers said they responded to a burst of 911 calls, and arrived at the home at 1129 E. Knollcrest Drive moments later to find it engulfed in flames and shots still being fired inside. Pardo had doused the house in accelerant and then set it on fire, the police said. They said they initially kept about 80 firefighters from getting too close until it appeared that the shooting had stopped. Pardo was believed to have started the fire, possibly with Molotov Cocktails, the authorities said.
Three victims — an 8-year-old and a 16-year-old with gunshot wounds, and the woman who broke her ankle, who is in her 20s— staggered outside and were taken to a nearby hospital, where they were treated for non-life threatening injuries, Buchanan said.
Jeanie Golpz, 51, who lives down the street from the house, said the woman leapt out of the window after running upstairs to flee Pardo. Golpz said she comforted the woman and two others who escaped the house, including a man who was screaming "He shot my family, he shot my family!" The three survivors, she said, were worried that as many as 10 people were still in the home when they escaped.
At some point during the chaos, the police said, Pardo stripped out of his Santa outfit and fled the house in street clothes. When the fire was brought under control, around 1:30 a.m., investigators peered inside the charred structure, where they could see at least three bodies. By early Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles, it was still unclear who the victims were and how many more were inside because officers had not yet entered the home, Buchanan said.
But Ed Winter, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner's office, told The AP that more bodies had been found inside, some of them too badly burned to immediately determine whether they died in the fire or from gunshots.
"We have multiple bodies inside," Winter said. "They're extremely charred and burned."
Buchanan said Pardo had been having problems with his wife, a relative of the owner of the home. Records indicate that the two filed for divorce in March, and that Sylivia Pardo had been living in the home. It was unclear if she was among the dead, and what connection Bruce Pardo had to the wounded 8-year-old and the other victims, he said.
"We don't know if they were residents of the house or not," the officer said.
The authorities began a manhunt for Pardo and were scouring the area when his body was discovered in a car near his brother's home in Sylmar, about 40 miles northwest of Covina.
A suburb that boasts in its slogan "One mile square and all there," Covina sits at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley. In the last few decades it became a scenic backdrop for films and shows, including several episodes of the television series "Roswell" and the hit show "Knight Rider."
In adition, three people who were at the party in the suburb of Covina — including the couple who owned the home and the former wife of the suspect — were missing, the police said.
The suspect, identified by witnesses as Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, later killed himself in front of his brother's house in Sylmar, about 40 miles from the scene of the shootings, the police said.
Witnesses said Pardo, armed with cans of accelerant, went to the house looking for his former wife, Sylvia, with whom he had been entangled in a bitter divorce..
The frenzied shooting occurred just before midnight Wednesday at a two-story home on a cul de sac in Covina, a middle-class town about 22 miles east of Los Angeles. People who escaped the home, including one woman who broke an ankle as she leapt out of a second-floor window, said they had gathered for a family celebration.
At least three bodies were initially discovered inside the home, and coroners found "several" more bodies as they went through the rubble on Thursday morning, according to The Associated Press.
Investigators said that about 30 people, among them many children, were inside the home celebrating on Christmas Eve when Pardo knocked on the door. The gathering was a tradition for the family, an annual holiday party, and Pardo had apparently disguised himself as hired entertainment to gain access. When a guest opened the door, Pardo stepped inside the house, pulled out a handgun, and immediately started shooting, Lieut. Pat Buchanan of the Covina Police Department said in a telephone interview.
Officers said they responded to a burst of 911 calls, and arrived at the home at 1129 E. Knollcrest Drive moments later to find it engulfed in flames and shots still being fired inside. Pardo had doused the house in accelerant and then set it on fire, the police said. They said they initially kept about 80 firefighters from getting too close until it appeared that the shooting had stopped. Pardo was believed to have started the fire, possibly with Molotov Cocktails, the authorities said.
Three victims — an 8-year-old and a 16-year-old with gunshot wounds, and the woman who broke her ankle, who is in her 20s— staggered outside and were taken to a nearby hospital, where they were treated for non-life threatening injuries, Buchanan said.
Jeanie Golpz, 51, who lives down the street from the house, said the woman leapt out of the window after running upstairs to flee Pardo. Golpz said she comforted the woman and two others who escaped the house, including a man who was screaming "He shot my family, he shot my family!" The three survivors, she said, were worried that as many as 10 people were still in the home when they escaped.
At some point during the chaos, the police said, Pardo stripped out of his Santa outfit and fled the house in street clothes. When the fire was brought under control, around 1:30 a.m., investigators peered inside the charred structure, where they could see at least three bodies. By early Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles, it was still unclear who the victims were and how many more were inside because officers had not yet entered the home, Buchanan said.
But Ed Winter, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner's office, told The AP that more bodies had been found inside, some of them too badly burned to immediately determine whether they died in the fire or from gunshots.
"We have multiple bodies inside," Winter said. "They're extremely charred and burned."
Buchanan said Pardo had been having problems with his wife, a relative of the owner of the home. Records indicate that the two filed for divorce in March, and that Sylivia Pardo had been living in the home. It was unclear if she was among the dead, and what connection Bruce Pardo had to the wounded 8-year-old and the other victims, he said.
"We don't know if they were residents of the house or not," the officer said.
The authorities began a manhunt for Pardo and were scouring the area when his body was discovered in a car near his brother's home in Sylmar, about 40 miles northwest of Covina.
A suburb that boasts in its slogan "One mile square and all there," Covina sits at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley. In the last few decades it became a scenic backdrop for films and shows, including several episodes of the television series "Roswell" and the hit show "Knight Rider."
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