"Santa Gunman" Had Lost Wife, Job
Officials Release Details Of Murderous Christmas Eve Rampage In California
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Santa Shooter Suicide
Police say a distraught divorcee in southern California dressed as Santa killed 7 of his in-laws then himself. Bill Whitaker reports.
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Santa Shooting Nightmare
The holidays have turned tragic for a Southern California family. As Bill Whitaker reports, police say that a man dressed as Santa entered a home, went on a shooting spree, then set the house on fire.
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Santa Shooting Spree 911 Tapes
Police officials in California have released the recordings of phone calls between 911 dispatchers and victims of the shocking Santa killing spree on Christmas Eve. Priya David reports.
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Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, accused of killing nine people and injuring three others, wasn't known well by neighbors, who described him as a quiet man. (AP)
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The 2008 Dodge Caliber driven by Christmas Eve shooting and arson suspect Bruce Pardo. Police say Pardo booby-trapped the car with explosives before comitting suicide, but no one was hurt in the detonation. (Covina Police Department)
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The top portion of a bizarre incendiary device used by accused "Santa slayer" Bruce Pardo. The tank from an air compressor was combined with a smaller tank containing high-octane racing fuel. Police belive a spraying mechanism was also attached, but burned up in the fire. Christmas wrapping is visible on the top tank; Pardo had disguised the device as a present. (Covina Police Department)
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He lost his electrical engineering job. His marriage ended after two years. Even his planned getaway to Canada after a murderous rampage at his former in-laws' house ended instead in his suicide after he badly burned himself while torching the house.
The 45-year-old Pardo, accused of killing nine people and injuring three others, wasn't known well by neighbors, who described him as a quiet man. Friends said he volunteered as a church usher.
But on Christmas Eve, police said he wreaked unimaginable havoc when he showed up at a party at his ex-wife's parents' home dressed as Santa Claus, leaving behind charred corpses and endless questions.
"It's a shock to everybody that knew him," said Jan Detanna, head usher at the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Montrose, where Pardo volunteered. "You just don't know what's going on sometimes."
Some described Pardo as a big man with a firm handshake who seemed upbeat and doted on a big, brown Akita dog he owned with his former wife.
Police said Friday that Pardo ditched his plan to flee to Canada after suffering burns in the attack on the home in Covina, 25 miles east of Los Angeles. He was later found dead, a plane ticket and cash strapped to his body, and parts of his Santa costume fused to his skin.
Officials also released a 911 call filled with frantic appeals for help. "My mom's house is on fire!" said a caller phoning from a neighbor's house. "He's still shooting at them!"
Emerging details indicated Pardo devised an extensive plan to destroy his ex-wife's family after a costly divorce that was finalized last week, just months after losing his aerospace job.
No bodies were identified because of charring, but police Lt. Tim Doonan said all were Pardo's former relatives. He declined to say whether his ex-wife and her parents were among them, but said they were unaccounted for.
The victims were believed to range in age from 17 to 80. Police Chief Kim Raney said "he stood over them and shot them execution-style."
Armed with four guns, wearing the Santa suit and carrying a fuel-spraying device wrapped like a present, Pardo showed up at the home at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday as a party of about 25 people was under way.
Raney said Pardo fired a shot into the face of an 8-year-old girl who answered the door and at first fired indiscriminately, then apparently targeted relatives of his ex-wife as other guests fled. The girl survived.
Pardo retreated to the front door and retrieved a device that mixed carbon dioxide or oxygen with high-octane racing fuel. Fleeing guests saw him spraying the fuel inside the house when the vapor was ignited, possibly by a pilot light or a candle, and exploded.
"Mr. Pardo was severely injured during that explosion," Raney said. "He suffered third-degree burns on both arms and it also appears that the Santa Claus suit that he was wearing did melt onto his body."
Pardo then drove to his brother's home in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles, broke in and shot himself in the head. His brother discovered the body early Thursday. Pardo had an airline ticket for a Christmas morning flight to Canada and $17,000 in cash on his body, some attached to his legs with plastic wrapping and some in a girdle, the chief said.
Before the suicide, Pardo used remnants of the Santa suit to booby-trap his rental car to explode, the chief said.
Raney said Pardo wired the suit so when it was lifted it "would pull a trip wire or a switch, ignite a flare inside the car that would then ignite black powder and he had several hundred rounds of handgun ammunition inside the car."
The device went off as a bomb squad worked to disarm it Thursday but no one was hurt.
A search of Pardo's own home in Montrose, a suburb northeast of Los Angeles, turned up racing fuel, five empty boxes for high-powered semi-automatic handguns and two high-powered shotguns.
The police chief said Pardo had no military experience, and in a resume he claimed to have a bachelor's and master's degree in electrical engineering.
Court records show Pardo's ex-wife, Sylvia Pardo, 43, filed for a dissolution of marriage on March 24, 2008, and they were legally separated after about two years of marriage. The two reached a settlement on Dec. 18.
Bruce Pardo owed her $10,000 as part of the settlement, according to court documents that detailed a bitter split. He also lost a dog he doted upon and did not get back a valuable wedding ring.
"No counseling or delay could help restore this marriage," the settlement stated. "There are irreconcilable differences which have led to the complete breakdown of the marriage."
The couple had no children together, but Bruce Pardo had a son from a previous relationship who had "some challenges," Raney said without elaboration. "I'm not sure he was supporting the child but he does have at least one child," he said.
©MMVIII, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 61 Comments***CHURCH USHER***
Bruce Jeffrey Pardo brought four handguns with him and emptied them. He then used a homemade device to spray racing fuel around the home."
Let''s see...
"He lost his electrical engineering job."= LOSER
"His marriage ended after two years." = LOSER
Even his planned getaway to Canada... ended instead in his suicide after he badly burned himself while torching the house" = LOSER X 2
"Holy Redeemer Catholic Church- CHURCH USHER" = LOSER, right winger religious fanatic.
"and in a resume he CLAIMED to have a bachelor''s and master''s degree in electrical engineering" = LOSER with fake degrees.
QUES TA VELLA
ASLRADA VISTA
Posted by rsmik at 04:47 PM : Dec 27, 2008
Thats funny. Well, one thing for sure; the "Ex" aint gonna screw over anybody else!
Posted by rsmik at 04:47 PM : Dec 27, 2008
Lemmie guess, you''re female and probably divorced?
I''ll bet the dog got away with the money!
Posted by txgrouch2008 at 06:39 PM : Dec 27, 2008
Yea, and once you sign that stupid contract the romance stops and the games begin.
Divorce laws make it profitable.
Had a female tell a friend of hers that she ought to date me as I had never been married so I wasn''t paying any alimony or child support.
Guess this is what could be called an "alimony virgin"
I think maybe I''ve coined a new term-cool!
Poor guy
What did dabitch do to him?
Posted by keithlakey at 07:06 PM : Dec 27, 2008
Evil kinda implies a sort of rational intent.
A guy can be told to leave the toilet set down just so many times before he snaps....It wouldn''t have been so bad if her buttt was not so big that she really didn''t notice that the lid was up at first.
Posted by Rynomite11 at 07:21 PM : Dec 27, 2008
Sounding a little bit hormonal? Bloating and cramping?
Posted by Rynomite11 at 07:25 PM : Dec 27, 2008
And is your friend the female?
You haven''t answered the question-was your "friend" the female?
Posted by Rynomite11 at 07:38 PM : Dec 27, 2008
Now it makes sense
And yet you think I should keep my doors unlocked at night with small children sleeping in the house.
You seem like a very confused person.
Posted by txgrouch2008 at 02:29 PM : Dec 27, 2008
I am not confused at all.
I do not fear guns. I just have no need for them.
Anyone that I know that hunts and has hunting rifles, they are not kept by the bedside or anywhere else for protection. When it isn''''t hunting season, they are put away, out of reach and out of site.
I did not tell you that you shouldn''''t keep your doors locked. Living in the U.S., you would be crazy not to keep your doors locked. I was saying that whoever has to keep a gun by their bed, in their car, on their person, is living in fear. And that is sad.
Our kids saw what she did and have held it against her since. She didn''t think that they''d grow up and see the truth on their own. She hates me for how the kids feel about her, but has to pretend otherwise to keep peace for herself. My kids constantly express their appreciation for my hanging in there and putting up with so much and not doing the kind of things so many men would have.
So just stick in there and do what''s right and all of your other relationships will strengthen and flourish.
Make a law that REQUIRES every citizen to watch a movie in a movie theater. At the door of the theater, every person will be issued a loaded pistol.
The ones who make it out alive will be much better citizens.
The ones who don''''t - well, they probably deserved it.
Posted by txgrouch2008 at 11:36 PM : Dec 27, 2008
Depends on the movie. I may just want to shoot at the screen instead.
There is a big difference between locking a door and feeling the need to have a gun. It''s one thing to lock a door to keep someone from just walking into your house. It''s quite another to go to the extreme of having to have a gun. If you aren''t living in fear, then why do you need a gun? The only thing a gun is used for is to injure or kill.
"You are totally brainwashed..."
You are the ones that are brainwashed. In Canada, we think for ourselves. We, the people, have decided that we don''t want guns. And because we have made that decision, we don''t have to worry about all the nutcases getting one. With you guys, way back in the dark ages some freak said that it was the right for every American to own a gun and that is the reason you are having so many problems today. Every mental case in America owns a gun. Americans have an unhealthy obsession with their guns. If someone took them away, you all would have a mental breakdown. Your egos are all tied up in your itty bitty guns.
"...because you have this knee jerk lieberal reflex of automatically associating guns with "living in fear," yet you agree with locking doors."
First off, I don''t care whether you lock a door or don''t lock a door. It''s all what you feel you need to do. I just said that living in the U.S. you might feel the need to.
I don''t automatically associate guns with living in fear. Except in America''s case. If you feel the need to have a gun by your bed, in your car, or on your person, you are living in fear. We aren''t living in fear, so therefore we do not feel the need to have a gun strapped to our side.
"You aren''''t thinking rationally, and you haven''''t even tried to explain your self-contradictions."
I am thinking just fine. We haven''t grown up with guns and don''t feel the need for them, because we don''t have to worry about every person we meet having one. We aren''t worrying about someone breaking into our houses and trying to harm us. We come from two different worlds. Yours is violent, mine is not.
Make a law that REQUIRES every citizen to watch a movie in a movie theater. At the door of the theater, every person will be issued a loaded pistol.
The ones who make it out alive will be much better citizens.
The ones who don''''t - well, they probably deserved it.
Posted by txgrouch2008 at 11:36 PM : Dec 27, 2008
With this kind of thinking, is it any wonder that you guys have problems?
Here if we are in a movie theater and people are talking, we tell them to shut the hell up, and in most cases, they do. If they don''t we report them and they get their a-s-ses thrown out. Problem solved. No violence. You guys think the only way to solve a problem is through violence.
Posted by erasmus606 at 02:35 AM : Dec 28, 2008
AND the reason for that is because you have all grown up with guns. It changes your thinking. All problems are solved with a gun. It''s just so easy to pull out that gun.
Just like the guy that shot his neighbor for letting off fireworks. If you don''t like something that someone is doing, well we''ll just pull out our trusty old gun! Only a wimp hides behind a gun.
Posted by rheola at 03:33 PM : Dec 28, 2008
Oh YES, they do. In fact they are so far gone they can''t even see what''s happening.
Posted by RowdynTex at 03:35 PM : Dec 28, 2008
You''ve just proved how truly stupid you are. You might fool some, but not many.
Posted by erasmus606 at 02:35 AM : Dec 28, 2008
No, YOU think we do.
You didn''''t grow up with guns in the house, so you know nothing about them. You spout off like some kind of expert, then you prove how little you know.
Otherwise, you''''re just parroting lieberal propaganda.
Posted by txgrouch2008 at 03:28 PM : Dec 28, 2008
"No, YOU think we do."
No, the WORLD thinks you do.
We just have to tune in here everyday to see what a disaster you have become.
And no I didn''t GROW UP with guns, no one here grew up with guns. That is why we aren''t a violent country.
I don''t need to be an expert to see YOUR problem. Anybody with half an eyeball can see it. The world can see it.
Posted by erasmus606 at 03:35 PM : Dec 28, 2008
Oh, PLEASE don''''t.
I''''d just have to argue with you all over again.
Posted by txgrouch2008 at 03:43 PM : Dec 28, 2008
Hahahahaha! That''s a good one. The only thing you can say is, "you''re confused" or "you are contradicting yourself".
That''s okay, your mental case buddy "rowdy" just showed up. She''s got a little more "variety" of cr*p that she spews out. Not much more but a little.
Posted by RowdynTex at 03:50 PM : Dec 28, 2008
No sense of duty to our children? What do you think we have been doing? We have managed so far to keep guns out of our country to the degree that our children do not have to live in a society like yours. I''d say that is pretty d*mn good. Of course it can''t last forever because you Americans aren''t happy unless you are contaminating and spreading your disease.
Yup, all you gun lovers are the same. You just repeat the same cr*p over and over and over. You are a joke.
Do you ever read any of your own country''''s statistics?
Posted by RowdynTex at 04:03 PM : Dec 28, 2008
Do we have drugs? Do we have gangs? Well of course we do. The problem is that you guys can''t come up with ACCURATE facts. You believe all the bullcr*p that you find on the internet.
"Do you ever read any of your own country''''s statistics?"
Yes, I do. That''s how I know that yours are wrong. You need to get your facts from legitimate sources. Which you seem to have a problem doing. In fact, I have noticed that there are very few of you that are capable of doing that.
It''s funny how all your information is usually based on Toronto and even that isn''t accurate.
If you were researching legitimate sources, then you would know that per capita, there is no comparison.
Do you know how to discuss ISSUES???
Posted by txgrouch2008 at 04:05 PM : Dec 28, 2008
You are so full of cr*p it''s hilarious.
You don''t "discuss" anything. You just repeat the same sh*t over and over.
However, I was wondering why after less than 2 years marriage and no children between them, the judge awarded so much spousal support to the ex-wife.
This pressure on top of his job loss (and we don''t know how much the ex taunted him) as well as his not wanting the marriage to end probably sent him over the edge.
It seems as though the ex probably had more than enough support from family that she would have been all right even if she had walked away with a job of her own.
There is something that you don''t seem to be getting.
I have never said that we don''t have crime. We were talking about GUNS and gun crime. Now, you can come up with a little fact here and a little fact there, but it don''t even come close "per capita" to you. And THAT is a FACT. And Toronto is one city, in one Province. Of course you choose Toronto because it''s the worst city in Canada. But when we read the stuff on CBS, it''s about ALL of the U.S. And it''s never-ending, day after day after day.
You are a whacko gun nut and will never be able to see the truth, so there really isn''t any point in discussing it further. Thank God there are some people in your country that do see the light. Maybe they can get things turned around. Obama is a good start. It shows that the vast majority of people in your country have a brain, so maybe there is some hope.
Posted by erasmus606 at 04:31 PM : Dec 28, 2008
Although I doubt it. Ignorant people like you won''t stop until you destroy every last piece of decency that is left. Obama will be lucky to get a chance to do anything. You won''t be happy until you have destroyed your own country.
Toots noor!
Posted by RowdynTex at 04:38 PM : Dec 28, 2008
Well of course it''s boring, you are losing! Isn''t that what you do, run away or change your name, when you are losing?
I bet you are a bitter, old, shriveled up prune that is full of hatred. And you haven''t anything better to do than sit on here 24/7, spewing that hatred. Maybe you should get a life.
I see txgrouch and given it up. He''s even more of a wimp than you.
Posted by erasmus606 at 04:46 PM : Dec 28, 2008
That should read: "I see txgrouch HAS given it up".
Posted by RowdynTex at 04:32 PM : Dec 28, 2008
I obviously know more than you. I have been reading articles on this website for 2 years. I have also talked to MANY people on this website.
AND I have many relatives that live in the United States.
Posted by KristianInAL at 11:55 PM : Dec 27, 2008
Very little crime in Alabama? And Birmingham with the rest of Alabama is going broke because?
It bet the little woman is impressed with her macho man being able to use the internet. EEEH Hawwww-hey babe, bring yo man nuther beer.
Football season? Bubba ya must be in hawg heaven.
Are you aware that Canada and Australia''''s economy is the best in the world right now?
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Posted by erasmus606
What a ******!
Singapore #1
New Zealand #2
USA #3
Canaduh & Asstralia #8 & #9
Youre so full of ***
hahahahahaha
Posted by erasmus606 at 04:56 PM : Dec 28, 2008
Sad, very sad.
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