Santa-clad killer lost money and dog in divorce

A US man who showed up dressed as Santa Claus at his ex-wife’s parents’ Christmas Eve party and killed at least eight people reached a divorce settlement with her days earlier.

Court documents in California show Bruce and Sylvia Pardo finalised their divorce on December 18 after about two years of marriage.

She got $10,000 (€7,000), their dog and her wedding ring in the settlement. He kept the house.

Bruce Pardo’s attorney, Stanley Silver, says his client was still trying to pay the money as recently as Tuesday.

He says his client also fell behind on spousal support payments after he lost his job in July.

Investigators planned to return to the scene today and sift through the ashes of the home for more victims.

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,” said police Lieutenant Pat Buchanan.

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

The massacre began around 11.30pm when an eight-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 at a news conference.

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-storey window. Those two, and the eight-year-old, remained in hospital today. All were expected to recover.

The gift-wrapped box Pardo was carrying actually contained a pressurised home-made device he used to spray a liquid that quickly sent the house up in flames.

When the fire was extinguished early yesterday, 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 five more bodies amid the ashes later in the day and planned to return later today to continue looking.

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

Following the shootings, Pardo got out of the Santa suit and drove off, witnesses told police. He went to his brother’s home about 25 miles away in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles. No one was home, so Pardo let himself in, police said.

Police were called to the home hours later and officers found Pardo dead of a single bullet to the head. Two handguns were found at the scene, and two more were discovered in the wreckage of his former in-laws’ house.

A car that Pardo apparently parked near his brother’s home exploded last night and more ammunition was found in it, said Los Angeles police Sgt. Francisco Wheeling. She had no immediate details on what set off the explosion. No one was hurt.