Few details have emerged yet about the gunman, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, of Montrose. Divorce documents show that he and his ex-wife, Sylvia Pardo, had been married for two years before divorcing, citing irreconcilable differences. The two had been married in January 2006 and divorced in February of this year, LosAngelsTimes reported.
Their last court hearing was Dec. 18, when a settlement was reached. Court records indicate that Pardo had been unemployed since July.
Shortly before 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Pardo, dressed as Santa Claus, approached the front door of his ex-wife's parents' home with a large, wrapped package. Inside the two-story home at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, his ex-wife, her parents and about two dozen others were enjoying their annual holiday party.
An 8-year-old girl ran to answer his knock. When the door swung open, Pardo, 45, shot her in the face with a semiautomatic handgun, stepped into the house and opened fire on the revelers. Amid the chaos, he doused the house with a flammable liquid contained in the package -- a pressurized fuel tank, about 2 1/2 feet tall.
Partygoers fled in panic as the house on Knollcrest Drive went up in flames. They ran to neighbors' homes and frantically called 911. A young woman, according to a neighbor, leaped out of a second-floor window, breaking her ankle.
The 8-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl who was shot in the back survived and were transported to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.
The 16-year old is the daughter of Pardo's ex-wife and has been discharged from Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. The 8-year-old, who is her cousin, was in stable condition today in the hospital's intensive care unit, said County-USC spokeswoman Adelaida De La Cerda.
"She's alert, she's doing fine. They're doing whatever they can so she's not more traumatized than she is already," De La Cerda said. A social worker has been called to help the girl, who has been visited by her mother.
The shooting rampage was thought to be the worst single killing spree in the county this year. Overall, homicides have remained at relatively low levels compared to previous years. The investigation, which began quickly and continued into Christmas Day, led to two other Southern California homes: Pardo's and his brother's, where Pardo was found dead.
It revealed a flammable device like the one Pardo took into the Covina home -- police said they'd never seen anything like it -- and incredulous reactions from people who knew Pardo as a reliable church usher and good, but quiet, neighbor.
Authorities still have not identified all the victims, although his former wife and her parents are thought to have been killed.
In Covina, police kept firefighters at bay as flames engulfed the house, believing the gunman might still be in the area. About 80 firefighters battled the blaze for an hour and a half before extinguishing it, said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mike Brown. The second floor of the house fell to the ground. Palm trees swayed eerily in the smoke.
Pardo had left the scene quickly, driving to his brother's house about 40 miles away in Sylmar. Shortly before 3:30 a.m., the brother summoned Los Angeles police, saying he had come home to find Pardo dead with a gunshot wound to the head.
When arriving officers ran Pardo's name through a law-enforcement database, they were alerted that he was wanted by Covina police. By 9 a.m., a pair of Covina detectives had arrived at Pardo's tan stucco house in Montrose and cordoned it off with tape. A wreath was hung on the front door and candy canes adorned the fence. An SUV and a military-style Hummer were parked in the driveway.
In midafternoon, authorities approached the house with guns drawn, shouting, "We're police! We have a search warrant!" When no one responded, they used a battering ram to get in.
More than two hours later, officers carried away four shotguns, a handgun, wrapping paper and a fuel tank like the one Pardo used in the attack. A label on the red tank read, "WeFuelFun.com," the website of a company that specializes in fueling devices for all-terrain vehicles.
Covina Police Lt. Pat Buchanan, a 30-year police veteran, said the tank Pardo used in the attack was "nothing that we or the arson team had ever seen."
Recently, Pardo had been living in the Montrose home alone, said Det. Antonio Zavala. Buchanan said he "was apparently going through a bad time in his marriage."
