Eight Dead In Xmas Eve Rampage

Stinging from an acrimonious divorce, a man plotting revenge against his ex-wife dressed up like Santa, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party and slaughtered at least eight people before killing himself hours later.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's office says eight bodies have been found in the rubble of the home, which Pardo set ablaze using a bizarre homemade device that sprayed flammable liquid.

Investigators ended their search Thursday night for other possible victims of the rampage, but planned to return to the scene Friday.

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.

Pardo chose to exact his revenge at the annual Christmas party his former in-laws held at their two-story home on a cul-de-sac in a quiet Covina neighborhood 25 miles east of Los Angeles.

In past years, a neighbor dressed as Santa Claus and entertained guests. But the neighbor had moved away and there was no Santa - until Pardo arrived about 11:30 p.m.

The massacre began when an 8-year-old girl answered Pardo's knock at the door. Pardo, carrying what appeared to be a large present, pulled out a handgun and shot her in the face, then began shooting indiscriminately as about 25 partygoers tried to flee, police said.

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 Christmas Day. All were expected to recover.

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 is 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 (12 meters) high consumed the house.

"It was really ugly," Salgado said.

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 three more bodies amid the ashes later in the day.

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

Police found Pardo's body at the home of his brother early Thursday in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles. Pardo had died from a single gunshot wound to the head, Los Angeles police Sgt. Martin Guerrero said.

CBS Station KCBS in Los Angeles reports that about 80 firefighters battled the fire. Police said they heard popping sounds inside, which may have been ammunition or car tires, KCBS reported.

Winter said the search through the destroyed home would take at least until the end of the day.

Jan Gregory, a neighbor, said about 25 people were at the party when the gunshots rang out and people started running by the house.

She said she saw a teenage boy run from the house screaming, "They shot my family."

"They're so lost," Rosa Ordaz, a family friend, told KCBS. "(They're) crying and upset, angry at this coward."

"Christmases were that special time of the year, it meant so much to them," Ordaz said.

Every year, the tight-knit family looked forward to their Christmas Eve gathering, according to Ordaz, who said she thinks that may have been why the suspect chose to attack at that time.

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

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.