Ninth body found at scene of Christmas Eve attack
The gunman, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, recently reached a court settlement with his former wife, who is thought to be among the dead.
A ninth body was found this morning at the grim scene of a Christmas Eve shooting in Covina, where a man in a Santa Claus suit opened fire on a house full of holiday revelers and set the building on fire.
There were 25 guests at the party and nine had been unaccounted for immediately after the shooting. The Los Angeles County coroner's office did not provide any more details about the deceased.
Few details have emerged yet about the gunman, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, of Montrose. Divorce documents show that he and his ex-wife, Sylvia Pardo, had been married for two years before divorcing, citing irreconcilable differences. The two had been married in January 2006 and divorced in February of this year.
Their last court hearing was Dec. 18, when a settlement was reached. Court records indicate that Pardo had been unemployed since July.
Shortly before 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Pardo, dressed as Santa Claus, approached the front door of his ex-wife's parents' home with a large, wrapped package. Inside the two-story home at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, his ex-wife, her parents and about two dozen others were enjoying their annual holiday party.
An 8-year-old girl ran to answer his knock. When the door swung open, Pardo, 45, shot her in the face with a semiautomatic handgun, stepped into the house and opened fire on the revelers. Amid the chaos, he doused the house with a flammable liquid contained in the package -- a pressurized fuel tank, about 2 1/2 feet tall.
Partygoers fled in panic as the house on Knollcrest Drive went up in flames. They ran to neighbors' homes and frantically called 911. A young woman, according to a neighbor, leaped out of a second-floor window, breaking her ankle.
The 8-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl who was shot in the back survived and were transported to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said. Eight bodies remained in the ruins of the house, coroner officials later said.
It was thought to be the worst single killing spree in the county this year. Overall, homicides have remained at relatively low levels compared to previous years. The investigation, which began quickly and continued into Christmas Day, led to two other Southern California homes: Pardo's and his brother's, where Pardo was found dead.
It revealed a flammable device like the one Pardo took into the Covina home -- police said they'd never seen anything like it -- and incredulous reactions from people who knew Pardo as a reliable church usher and good, but quiet, neighbor.
