COVINA, Calif., Dec. 30, 2008
Santa Slayer Planned More Murders
Police: Mother, Ex-Wife's Attorney Were On Calif. Man's Hit List
-
Play CBS Video Video 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.
-
Police said Bruce Pardo, above, knew his mother had been invited to his ex-wife's family Christmas party and intended to kill her because he felt she sided with his ex-wife in their divorce. (AP)
-
Interactive Crime Beat Statistics and specifics on crime in America.
His plan was thorough and detailed. Pardo had a getaway car, an airplane ticket to the Midwest, several guns, and high-powered ammunition only sold outside the state.
They were all in place on Christmas Eve, when he put on his Santa Claus suit, armed himself with four guns, barged into a party at his ex-relatives' home, killed nine people and torched the home.
It was a crime that sent this quiet community east of Los Angeles reeling with shock and sadness, but a crime police say could have been worse.
Police Lt. Pat Buchanan said Pardo knew his mother had been invited to the party and intended to kill her because he felt she sided with his ex-wife in their divorce. Lucky for her, Buchanan said, she felt ill and opted to stay home.
His ex-wife's attorney was also apparently a target. Police Chief Kim Raney said Pardo left a rented vehicle near the attorney's Glendale home the day of the shooting and filled it with maps, clothes and a fuel tank.
But Pardo never made it to the vehicle. He was burned while torching the house and later killed himself at his brother's home.
If Pardo had lived, "his next destination was Glendale," Raney told hundreds of mourners who gathered at a local school Monday to offer each other comfort.
The residents, many of them wearing orange ribbons to remember the victims, gasped as Raney explained the latest details of the investigation. Raney pledged he would "try to bring sense to what was a senseless act."
The quiet community of backyard pools and wide boulevards was still coping with the bizarre and violent crime. Elderly women took notes on city officials' remarks from the meeting and women wiped tears from their eyes during a prayer.
Mayor Kevin Stapleton asked residents to respect the privacy of the surviving family members and their neighbors.
"I know people want to go by and see the location. But keep in mind that people live there and we need to get them some return to normalcy," Stapleton said.
County mental health counselors and trauma specialists distributed pamphlets and referrals, while neighbors hugged and shook their heads in grief and confusion.
David Singer, a psychiatrist and volunteer trauma therapist, advised parents on how to talk to children who might be confused and frightened by the idea of Santa Claus committing such a horrible crime.
"He was so full of hate that he had to disguise his hate by dressing up as someone full of love - Santa Claus," Singer said.
Those words, meant to comfort a child, seemed to be the simple explanation many of the adults in the room craved. Many nodded in agreement, and a few quietly wiped away tears.
After the meeting, some lingered at the school to talk, while others held hands and prayed.
Not far from the school, the charred remnants of the destroyed home still smelled of smoke. A pile of votive candles, flower and stuffed animals lay outside a chain-link fence protecting the site.
Jill Amparan placed a bouquet of flowers on the curb and said a prayer with her friend, Elizabeth Chavez. Still dressed in their scrubs after leaving their jobs at a medical clinic, the women expressed anger at Pardo's actions.
"People die every day but the way this happened is awful," Amparan said.
Chavez said her 9-year-old daughter has been riveted by the story of a man dressed as Santa Claus committing such a horrible crime.
"She brought a newspaper article to day care to show her teacher," she said.
The whole incident left both women wondering what made Pardo so desperate to get back at his ex-wife by hurting the ones she loved.
"He had a house, friends, family and a church community. That's supposed to help you when things get bad," Amparan said.
Scott Nord, an attorney for the victims' family, said a fund for donations was set up to help his clients. He said the family requests privacy while it grieves.
"They have felt your love for them and the prayers said on their behalf," Nord said in a statement released through police. "The thought that so many have opened their hearts to them provides them comfort."
The nine people were killed when Pardo, 45, carried out a brutal attack on those gathered at the home of his ex-wife's parents just days after the settlement of a bitter divorce was finalized.
The 25 people gathered at the home of Joseph and Alicia Ortega exchanged Christmas greetings moments before the rampage with about 35 relatives by radio at the home of their niece Lilia Llamas Sotomayor in Torreon, Mexico, a ritual the family undertook every year.
"It was 'How are you? We're all together here. How are you over there?"' Sotomayor told the Los Angeles Times. "They were happy, and we were happy."
It was not until the next day that the relatives in Mexico learned that just after their conversations ended, Pardo entered the home dressed as Santa Claus and opened fire with semiautomatic handguns, then used a homemade device to fill the house with vaporized racing fuel, which exploded.
(Covina Police Department)
The missing included Pardo's 43-year-old former wife, Sylvia Pardo; her parents, Joseph Ortega, 80, and Alicia Ortega, 70; her 46-year-old sister, Alicia Ortiz, and the sister's 17-year-old son, Michael Ortiz. Also missing were a brother, Charles Ortega, 50, and his wife, Cheri, 45; and another brother, James, 52, and his wife, Teresa, 51.
Editor's Note: According to a statement released through the Covina Police Department, checks may be mailed to Ortega Family Fund, C/O Law Offices of Scott J. Nord, 500 N. Brand Boulevard, Suite 550, Glendale, Calif., 91203.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More From U.S.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 48 CommentsPosted by luigi999 at 12:37 AM : Jan 02, 2009
-------------------------------------------------------
Luigi
Thanks for the chuckle this morning! Perhaps you could share some of your "wisdom" (more like "wiz-dumb") with us.
What about my post would make you think I might be here illegally? Or Pakistani? Actually, if you were as smart as you''d like the rest of us here to believe, you''d have already explored the origin of my screen ID. You would then know who was here illegally.
By the way, "Luigi", huh? How long off the boat?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by remrafbn
With gun-owners using firearms in legal self defense against sick criminals 2.5 million times a year (Clinton Justice Dept. study BTW) I submit you are horribly WRONG!
Women use firearms on average of 200,000 times a year defending themselves against sexual assault, would you rather they be raped? Of course you would, all anti-gunners are racist s e x offenders.
Your 30,000 is a sad lie as well, that number is not only inflated, but mis-represented! You are counting suicides. Surely those willing to shoot themselves would be willing to pop a few dozen pills.
These facts are why you anti-gun nazi''s lie, even Obamalamadingdong knows his days in office would end in 4 years should he "attempt" additional restrictions on our 2nd Amendment rights.
Happy New Year:0)
I''m not sure why you feel the need to respond in such a combative manner, but I''m going to guess it has something to do with youth and a false sense of superiority. To refer to my post as "pathetic" is akin to me calling you a simpleminded moron. I wouldn''t do that, though, as I think it''s more just ignorance and I''d rather try to educate you instead. Notice I didn''t say "change your mind" as different opinions are "what makes the world go round", as they say. Hopefully, though, you might come away with the realization that not every gun owner is the comic book characterization you currently hold.
First, because you could find deadly tools down any aisle in The Home Depot doesn''t mean that''s what those tools were developed for.
"Guns are...weapons designed to kill people" is just, well...wrong.
Perhaps you didn''t know that target shooting is an Olympic Sport. I''m pretty sure they''re not using human targets.
Certainly you can''t be blind to the sport of hunting. Yes, it''s a fun way for families and friends to bond, but it also puts food on the table and those who are serious about it are safe and waste no part of animals they harvest. There are also numerous programs that provide hunter donated game meat to food banks and shelters.
I realize you''re passionate about what you believe, however misguided, but when you present your position from such a condescending posture, you''re not very likely to be taken seriously if you''re not ignored altogether.
I went to the tool department at Home Depot but they did not have any guns. Then I learned why. Guns are not tools. They are deadly weapons...weapons designed to kill people. A hammer is not designed to kill people.
Then he said "With a hammer I can build a home...
...or I can crush your skull."
True but you have to separate actual use from utility. Less than 20 Americans per year are killed with hammers crushing their skulls while guns are used to kill 30,000. Do you realize how pathetic your claims are?
Then he said "But I''''ll tell you this, if I had to be in that house when this guy showed up, I''''d rather have been there with a loaded weapon."
There were loaded weapons at that house. One belonged to Pardo and the others the homeowner. The police found guns in the home but that family was celebrating Christmas Eve and Santa knocked on the door. You do not point a gun at Santa. Do you? Gun owners are always dreaming of being the heroes but most of the time, in most mass shootings, they are the shooters!~
Tell me, are people REALLY that stupid to think that outlawing guns is the answer? WHY THE F@#K DO YOU THINK THEY CALL THEM "CRIMINALS"?
When I was just a kid of 10 or so, I took an NRA gun safety class with my Dad and older brother. I learned how to handle a firearm safely, thus, taking the mystery out of guns and what they could be used for. There was no "playing with guns" in my house. I was taught it was a tool, just like a hammer is. With a hammer I can build a home...
...or I can crush your skull.
Better we examine the human equasion in all this than explore the passing of yet more laws that won''t be enforced any more than the ones already on the books.
Where is the moral outrage for those who get arrested 5, 6, 7 times for driving drunk and get a slap on the wrist and put back out on the street to kill someone with their car?
This guy was a real sick individual with some very serious, very real issues. But I''ll tell you this, if I had to be in that house when this guy showed up, I''d rather have been there with a loaded weapon.
According to police reports they were shot to death then burned!~
"They were all in place on Christmas Eve, when he put on his Santa Claus suit, armed himself with four guns, barged into a party at his ex-relatives'' home, killed nine people and torched the home."
So he went in with four guns, killed nine people and torched the home. Furthermore, the police found guns in the home they say belonged to the family. Guns are not designed to save lives. They are designed to kill people!~ Mr. Pardo was a legal gun owner. Most mass shooters are!~
Posted by remrafbn "
Maybe you missed the part where he sprayed the room and house with flammable liquid and blew it up with a flash fire- the dead would still be dead, just burned to death instead of shot AND burned.
"Gee, I wonder what he was angry about? could it be that our court system is so completely skewed that it gives 50% of a persons life savings to a less-than-one-year spouse?
Posted by justaguy11"
Yeah thats phuxed up, like how the hel1 is he going to pay $3700/mo alimony plus his own expenses with NO JOB?? no pay= JAIL TIME, so he was facing jail- dead end, and that was why he snapped.
"For six months, CHURCH USHER Bruce Pardo plotted a bloody attack on his ex-wife and her family"
CHURCH USHER Bruce Pardo CHURCH USHER Bruce Pardo CHURCH USHER Bruce Pardo CHURCH USHER Bruce Pardo CHURCH USHER Bruce Pardo CHURCH USHER Bruce Pardo CHURCH USHER Bruce Pardo CHURCH USHER Bruce Pardo
Gee, I wonder what he was angry about? could it be that our court system is so completely skewed that it gives 50% of a person''s life savings to a less-than-one-year spouse?
Posted by mdalerwil
I have two teenagers. Sometimes I need to be in here to check my sanity! ; )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by hatesthecolt at 02:45 PM : Dec 31, 2008
You let real life get in the way of keeping abreast of internet discourse?!? Shame on you! :P
Posted by mdalerwill
Thanks for reminding me of the name; I have to rent that again. Probably Michael Douglas best performance.
Sorry I missed the gun control discussion ... was doing family things... I just don''t understand the extremists on either side of that issue.
Posted by hatesthecolt at 09:20 AM : Dec 31, 2008
That was Falling Down. Excellent film.
Anyone remember the name of the Michael Douglas film where he flips out and starts killing people? Remember how his life had turned to complete crapola? I have to wonder (and don''t get me wrong, this is NO EXCUSE for what this guy did), if this "wonderful family" hadn''t been verbally beating the *** out of this guy for a while now. I am only saying that there are families out there that will decide an in-law is no longer welcome and make their lives a living hell just because they can.
On gun control, I continue to be mystified as to why gun rights advocates fight reasonable restrictions on (a) how quickly you can get guns and (b) what kind of guns you can buy. What harm does it do? It certainly isn''t unconstitutional since the Supreme Ct. has long held that you can put reasonable restrictions on civil rights. If it saves lives to have a waiting period, why would you advocate against one since you WILL get your gun just in 7 days instead of tomorrow? And what do you really NEED with an UZI anyway?
Lastly, how ironic is it that this guy got to feel some of his victims'' pain because the moron didn''t wear a flame retardant suit?
"Some court at some point could say, ''''federal government, you are right,''''" Michel said."
Posted by remrafbn at 07:29 PM : Dec 30, 2008
And many would probably say the government would have to kill many of us to get our guns out of our hands too. One way to start a civil war "could" be to try and take away our guns or ammunition!
- 1
- 2
- 3
- next
See all 48 Comments