Man dressed as Santa opens fire on Xmas Eve party

[annalyzer]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081225/ap_on_re_us/santa_shooting

[Roamer]

Because he had marital problems, he killed and injured all those people. :mad:

[Pandabear]

How terrible that instead of just doing himself in, he took all those people with him.

[DarkOrchid]

This is awful! I would be willing to bet that one of the dead is his wife and that the home is a relative of hers....or maybe a relative of his and she was there. Now they're finding SEVERAL more bodies....how horrible.

[texanne]

He shot an 8 yr. old child on Christmas Eve. How much more evil could this animal be?

[Roamer]

That child will never enjoy Christmas again. :frown:

[rockford2]

What an absolute evil, hideous, coward this man was. They were only married a year! And to think he ruined soo many lives for what? For more money from his ex wife??

[KittyMom]

Presser on now...just awful what this monster did.

[KittyMom]

9 bodies
4 empty handguns found in home
He used oxygen and racing fuel to form vaper that he ignited. He was also burned on arms...the santa suit melted to him.
He rigged car to explode. He had 17K strapped to his body. He had a plane ticket to Canada.

[sunstar]

Presser on now...just awful what this monster did.

I'm watching it. Monster is right! And had he not gotten burned when setting the house on fire he was planning to flee to Canada. :madranting94dp:

[KittyMom]

Divorce was finalized last Thursday.

8 yr old opened door, saw his outfit and thought Santa had arrived. He shot her in the face. She is in critical condition. He had specific targets. 25 people in house. None of his or ex-wife's children were hurt.

[sunstar]

That child will never enjoy Christmas again. :frown:

That's the part that breaks my heart. :1187603408.CR.Mothe

[KittyMom]

Said he had master's degree in electrical engineering degree. He and wife did not have kids together.

[KittyMom]

I'll bet his first wife could tell some stories.

[sunstar]

I'll bet his first wife could tell some stories.

It really makes me wonder what makes people do such horrible things. Why didn't he just kill himself and not seek revenge on everybody else? :madranting94dp:



(ps I love your new avatar!)

[KittyMom]

It really makes me wonder what makes people do such horrible things. Why didn't he just kill himself and not seek revenge on everybody else? :madranting94dp:



(ps I love your new avatar!)

Someone, somewhere knew that this guys was a ticking time bomb. Fox had the divorce atty for this guy on earlier in the day. The reporter asked him 3 times if the guy was upset about the court procedure. The lawyer tried to say that this guy was quiet and calm and wasn't upset...BS.

I'm glad you like my av. I think its too cute!

[sunstar]

Someone, somewhere knew that this guys was a ticking time bomb. Fox had the divorce atty for this guy on earlier in the day. The reporter asked him 3 times if the guy was upset about the court procedure. The lawyer tried to say that this guy was quiet and calm and wasn't upset...BS.

I'm glad you like my av. I think its too cute!

I missed seeing the lawyer on tv but I read what he had to say and yes, either this guy was super good at conning the lawyer or something's not true. I still can't believe he rigged the car to blow up by somebody touching the Santa suit ~ after he was burned in it. MOO

[Boscorelli]

I read the full account of this story,on my AOL home page. It is a very well known fact,for well over 20 years that THANKSGIVEN through New Year's Day is the suicide time zone.
This is just a tragic representative of this truth. An unhappy married couple,messy divorce,revenge,bloodshed ,death and then suicide.
I do agree with KITTYMOM who stated in her post;that Christmas will never be the same for this 8 year old little girl.:1187603408.CR.Mothe
This is FACT,I myself have had all of CHRISTMAS' destroyed by family throught out my childhood and teenage years They are dead and haven been dead for a long TIME. Thankfully there is no family/children to destroy my THANKSGIVEN & CHRISTMAS today.
The pain never really leaves;but as time moves forward,time heals the wounds.
Boscorelli

[rockford2]

I'm sorry, Bosc.

Some people do not have to express their emotions and can hide them. Those people are the scary people, IMO.

[foxfarmboxers]

See Video at link below:


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/28399008#28399008

[Boscorelli]

Hi Rockford 2
There are times we must 'supress' our anger;as so we don't go half cocked an injure another person/people.
There are also positive ways to express one's anger.
1. An aerobic work out. I have TONY LITTLE'S ' GAZELLE.I can walk ,jog,run, sprint;and I can PRAY to the LORD JESUS CHRIST,to give me extra 'graces' to overcome the 'temptation' of anger.
2.OUR ARCADE BULLET TIME,shooting a gun.the object is to 'left-click' mouse when bullet is fired,so you don't get hit. There are many other 'games in our ARCADE that will cool me off untill the moment passes.
ANGER is an emotion,a very important emotion;it alerts us to immediate danger;as well as the stupidity of another person;or when a person/people are trying to provoke'you' to get angry.
I have learned over the course of my life had to 'contain' my anger and when to use 'verbal advantage' instead of aggressive hostility;when it is best not to say anything and walk away.
This man was angry and seeking revenege;it's to bad he just didn't kill himself and not murder and injure other people. :madranting94dp::groan:
Boscorelli

[emmeblu]

How terrible that instead of just doing himself in, he took all those people with him.

This was my thought exactly when I saw this on the news. Why didn't the creep just do himself in instead of killing all those innocent people. Too bad the door was opened to this killer. I hope he is real warm right about now!

Prayers for the family of the victims. :1187603408.CR.Mothe

[KittyMom]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473384,00.html

Police Find Second Car Belonging to 'Santa' Massacre Suspect

Sunday, December 28, 2008

COVINA, Calif. — Authorities in California found a second car rented by the man believed to have killed nine at a Christmas Eve massacre before fatally shooting himself.

Sgt. Tom Lorenz of the Glendale Police Department confirmed a Toyota Rav4 found in Glendale, Calif., belongs to Bruce Jeffrey Pardo.

A bomb squad was called to the scene, but Covina police spokesman Lt. Pat Buchanan said no explosives were found in the vehicle.

Police had said Saturday they were seeking the second car rented by Pardo.

The car was rented by Pardo from a Pasadena agency on Dec. 19, police said.

"This Covina Police Department considers this vehicle to be extremely dangerous as it may be boobytrapped or contain explosives," a police statement said.

Pardo, who dressed in a Santa suit and shot his way into his former in-laws' home during a Christmas Eve party, rented a small compact car to drive to the Covina home of Joseph and Alicia Ortega and then escape after he sprayed bullets at the guests and a vapor of high-octane racing fuel that torched the two-story home in minutes.

Police said he later boobytrapped the car by wiring the Santa suit to a tripwire that was rigged to set off 500 rounds of ammunition before he shot himself at his brother's home in Sylmar. The car exploded when authorities tried to defuse the homemade bomb. No one was injured.

Police said the second rental car was due to have been returned on Friday. No further information was immediately available.

Pardo is believed to have killed nine members of the Ortega family. The bodies found in the ruins of the Covina home, which has been demolished because the fire left it structurally unsafe, were so badly burned that it could be days before the victims are officially identified. In the meantime, police have listed them as missing.

Buchanan on Saturday identified the unaccounted for as 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 her 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.

Don and Mitzie Avery, Charles and Cheri Ortega's neighbors in Covina, said Saturday that they had known the couple since they moved next door in 1986 and over the years had developed a close, familial relationship with them.

The Averys said they attended many of the Ortegas' functions, including Charles' fifitieth birthday party in Stateline, Nevada, earlier this month. "When you're a friend of the Ortegas, you're a member of their family," Don Avery said.

They had met Bruce Pardo a couple times and knew about his acrimonious split from Charles' sister Sylvia, they said. "We knew it was a messy divorce, but we didn't know the particulars," said Mitzie Avery, choking back tears.

On Christmas Eve, Mitzie Avery said they borrowed chairs from the Ortegas for a Christmas party and Cheri Ortega gave Mitizie a present of a snowman decoration before saying "I'll see you tomorrow."

Meanwhile, Pardo's mother said amid sobs Saturday that she was close to falling apart over the devastating news. She had spoken with one of Sylvia Pardo's three children from a previous marriage and was pleased to hear the family did not hold any animosity toward her.

"It would have been so easy for that family to hate me," Nancy Windsor, 72, said in a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Times. "And Sal was just so wonderful. He said, 'We love you, and you're family.' I love them so much. And it's very hard this has happened."

Windsor, who has been living out of a suitcase since a wildfire destroyed her mobile home in Sylmar last month, said she wanted any money from her son's estate to be put into a fund to help the children of her former daughter-in-law.

"Anything that our family realized from Bruce's vehicle, from the money on him, whenever that's released, everything is going to my grandchildren. I want it for my grandchildren," Windsor said. "Everybody says the grandchildren are the best. In this case, they are the best."

Distraught friends and relatives left bouquets of flowers, devotional candles and stuffed animals to form a makeshift shrine at the police barricade near the destroyed home on East Knollcrest Drive on Saturday.

[KittyMom]

http://www.ktla.com/landing_news/?Police-Investigate-Second-Vehicle-Used-i=1&blockID=170714&feedID=171

In addition to the 8-year-old girl who was shot, a 16-year-old girl was shot in the back. Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center spokeswoman Adelaida De La Cerda said the 8-year-old girl who was shot in the face was released from the hospital Friday. Her mother had been at the hospital and was "extremely traumatized," De La Cerda said.

Her cousin, a 16-year-old girl brought in for observation, had superficial injuries and was released Thursday. The teenager's mother was Bruce Pardo's ex-wife, De La Cerda said.

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 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."

Authorities now believe that fighting over a child from a previous relationship that Pardo abandoned, but continued to claim on tax returns, may have triggered his divorce from his wife and subsequent killing spree.

Family members said that the boy, who is about 9, nearly drowned when he was a year old and was left physically handicapped. Pardo had apparently claimed the boy as a dependent on his tax returns for seven years, even though he did not support the child financially.

A family source said Pardo's ex-wife found out about the child and demanded Pardo stop claiming him as a dependent, creating a rift between the two that contributed to their break-up last January.

[KittyMom]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/27/santa.shooting/index.html
Santa shooter carried secret guilt, attorney says
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- In an interview Saturday with CNN, Alvirez -- who represented Pardo's former girlfriend Elena Lucano in a child support case against Pardo -- said that Pardo and Lucano were in an "off-and-on again relationship" in 2001 and that Pardo was watching their 13-month-old son, Matthew, one Saturday while Lucano went grocery shopping.

When Lucano returned a short time later, she found Pardo frantically holding the unconscious toddler, Alvirez said.

"The child did get away from him for a few minutes and managed to crawl out of a patio door and slip into the pool," Alvirez said.

The couple rushed the child to a nearby hospital, where paramedics resuscitated him. Later, the gravely traumatized child was airlifted to Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, a world-renowned trauma center that specializes in severe pediatric care, for specialized treatment, Alvirez said.

During the first week in the intensive care unit, Pardo never left his son's bedside, Alvirez said. But a few weeks after the child was stabilized, doctors concluded that severe brain damage would confine him to a wheelchair for life, Alvirez said.

Less than six months later, Pardo and Lucano ended their relationship, and Pardo stopped visiting his son. Pardo also neglected to contribute to Matthew's medical costs, which surged up to $340,000 within the first year, Alvirez said.

"We had to sue [Pardo] on his $100,000 homeowner's insurance policy, and I recommended that Elena sue Bruce beyond the policy," he said. "She was not a vindictive type, and she knew he was living with overwhelming guilt and wanted to only pursue his policy."

Alvirez said he never had any problems with Pardo and was able to collect the $100,000 policy to pay off medical bills and set up a special needs trust of $240 per month for the rest of Matthew's life. The boy is now 9 years old, Alvirez said.

"Once the settlement was reached in August 2002, Bruce stopped communicating completely and never saw Matthew or Elena again," Alvirez said.

He said Lucano had maintained occasional contact with Pardo's mother over the years but she was unaware that Pardo had remarried and never anticipated the violent path that ended his life and left nine other people dead.

She is overwhelmed by all of this, but Elena has managed to provide for Matthew as a single parent with a part-time nurse and a full-time job," Alvirez said.

1. I have suspicions about the "accident" in the pool.
2. What real man would not keep track of his child after such a terrible accident?
3. What kind of person claims the child for tax purposes but doesn't tell his wife about the child?
4. I don't think this guy's actions have anything to do with any guilt he felt over his son.
5. Matthew is safer with this man out of his life.

[Boscorelli]

Hi Emmeblu;
I don't think this guy is in a 'warm place' but a real hot place:grin::biggrin::67302: ETERNAL HELL
It is my opinon,he was seeking revenge because he got divorced.
Relationships don't always work out and both parties are equally respnsible,do to failure to communicate. Things get messy;but MURDER that never solves any problem.
WEll this 'jerk' can think about his bad choices and what he could have done. To Late To late To late.

Boscorelli

[foxfarmboxers]

Family mourns after Christmas Eve massacre
Police: Man who killed 9 people at ex's parents' home was headed to Iowa

Video
‘Santa’ massacre victims mourned
Dec. 29: A community near Los Angeles is still reeling after nine people were murdered in a Christmas Eve attack by an embittered man dressed as Santa Claus. NBC’s Ron Mott reports.

Video

911 tapes reveal horror of Santa-suit slayings
Dec. 27: Officials released a 911 call filled with frenzied pleas for help from a deadly rampage in California. "He's shooting everyone!” said one survivor. NBC’s Ron Mott reports.

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updated 1 hour, 43 minutes ago

COVINA, Calif. - Joseph and Alicia Ortega came from Mexico and raised a large, loving family supported by the metal painting business they started in Southern California.



See Complete Story At: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28423942/

[KittyMom]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473884,00.html
Police: 'Santa' Shooter Planned to Kill Mother, Wife's Attorney

Monday, December 29, 2008

Covina Police Chief Kim Raney told residents Monday at a town meeting that Bruce Pardo that he intended to kill his mother and ex-wife's divorce attorney. Pardo had left a rental car near the lawyer's home before heading to the party armed with four guns.

Pardo's mother was expected to attend the party but changed her mind because she was ill.

[Boscorelli]

Hi Kittymom,
LOVE YOUR AVATAR and I take it you are a 'southern belle' and a steel magnolia???
There are many tragic stories around the THANKSGIVEN/CHRISTMAS holidays;and tomorrow is New Year's Eve;and people will go out and party and make 'fools 'of themselves.
So it will not shock or suprise me,if we hear of another tragedy of this nature.
Boscorelli