It's December now, have some Christmas themed mass murder. Jokes aside, I'm posting about this massacre in particular because it is a lesser known one, and I've only seen a few people on here mention it. So, here it goes.
On December 24, 2008 at approximately 11:30 p.m. PST, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, dressed in a Santa Claus suit and wearing protective glasses and an athletic cup, armed with four 9mm semiautomatic pistols (makes and models unknown) and a homemade flamethrower disguised as a Christmas present knocked on the door of his former in-laws' house, occupied by about 25 people. When the door opened, Pardo fired at the eight-year-old daughter of Leticia Yuzefpolsky, a sister of Sylvia Pardo, as she ran to greet him, injuring her in the face. He then fired indiscriminately at fleeing party-goers. Police speculate that Pardo may have stood over and pointedly executed some of the victims.
After the shootings, Pardo unwrapped the package containing the homemade flamethrower, and used it to spray racing fuel gasoline to set the home ablaze. Nine people died from either gunfire or flames, and three others were wounded: the eight-year-old girl who was shot in the face with severe but non-life-threatening injuries, a 16-year-old girl shot and wounded in the back, and a 20-year-old woman who suffered a broken ankle jumping out of the second-floor window. There was one survivor who called the authorities during the attack, after escaping to a neighbor's house. The resulting fire soared approximately 40 to 50 feet and took 80 firefighters an hour-and-a-half to extinguish. Due to the intensity of the fire, identification of the victims was done with dental and medical records.
After the attack, Pardo put on his street clothes and drove his Dodge Caliber rental car to his brother's house in Sylmar, approximately 30 miles away from the crime scene, where he was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His brother was not present in the home at the time of Pardo's death. It was initially believed that Pardo intended to flee to Canada by plane as he had bought an airline ticket to a flight on Air Canada; however, it was subsequently discovered that the flight itinerary, on Northwest Airlines, was from Los Angeles to Moline, Illinois (with a layover in Minnesota). Pardo had called days before to tell a high school friend that he was planning to visit, but investigators were unsure if he actually intended to visit or if the flight was to fool investigators. He had visited the friend before, in October 2008.
However, suffering from severe third-degree burns on his arms stemming from the blaze, he decided to go against the initial plan. Police found $17,000 in cash cling-wrapped on his legs inside a girdle. Pardo's autopsy revealed he was high on cocaine during the massacre, and the Santa suit he was wearing had melted during the flamethrower portion of the attack and had adhered to his skin, so that not all of it could be removed. His rental car, parked one block from his brother's house, had been rigged with remnants of his Santa suit that would detonate the car with black powder if removed. Also recovered from the scene were four 13-round capacity handguns that were empty, and at least 200 rounds of ammunition. Suggesting that what had been inside the car was being treated as a threat, a bomb squad fired an incendiary device into it, burning and destroying it. At Pardo's house in Montrose, police had recovered five empty boxes for semiautomatic handguns, two shotguns, and a container for high-octane fuel tank gasoline. They also found what was described as a "virtual bomb factory" in his home.
Police speculate that the motive of the attack was related to marital problems. Pardo's wife of one year had settled for divorce in the prior week. However, Pardo held no criminal record and had no history of violence. He had been fired from his job as an electrical engineer at ITT Electronic Systems, Radar Systems in July. There is some speculation that the divorce may have been caused by Pardo concealing a child from a previous relationship. This child was severely injured in a swimming pool accident several years prior.
The couple wed on January 2006, but soon grew apart after their marriage, when Mr. Pardo refused to open a joint account with Mrs. Pardo; he also expected his wife to take care of her own three children with her own finances.
In June 2008, divorce court had ordered Bruce Pardo to pay $1,785 a month in spousal support. During the divorce proceeding, Bruce had confided to a friend his wife was "taking him to the cleaners." In July, Pardo was fired for billing false hours and the court suspended the support payments due to job hardship.
Pardo was required to pay Sylvia $10,000 as part of the divorce settlement, according to court documents. Sylvia kept the wedding ring and the family dog. In a court declaration, Pardo complained that Sylvia was living with her parents, not paying rent, and had spent lavishly on a luxury car, gambling trips to Las Vegas, meals at fine restaurants, massages, and golf lessons.
At least three victims' deaths were caused by gunshot wounds alone, while four others died from a combination of both gunshot wounds and fire. Two other deaths stemmed from the fire alone. A total of fourteen children lost at least one parent in the massacre. Pardo had also intended to murder his own mother whom he expected to find at his ex wife's Christmas party supposedly because he thought she sided with his ex wife more than him during their divorce, however Pardo's mother didn't show up to the party as she had fallen ill. Pardo had also intended to murder his ex wife's attorney, although why he never went through with this plan is unknown.
Additional photos:
The home of Sylvia Pardo in flames:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The remains of the house:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The home of Bruce Pardo:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The Santa suit Pardo wore during the attack, now burned and melted:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Pardo's body being removed from his brother's house by coroners:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]The homemade flamethrower Pardo used in the attack:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Subject: Covina Massacre 
1/12/2018, 16:07