Grim Details Surface in Calif. Massacre

COVINA, Calif., Dec. 26 -- A man who carried out a Christmas Eve massacre and arson at the home of his former in-laws while dressed as Santa Claus apparently intended to flee the United States, but his plans were dashed after the inferno he created severely burned his arms and melted his red costume onto his body, police said Friday.

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, a laid-off aerospace worker, apparently shot some of his nine victims execution-style in a plot to destroy his ex-wife's family after a costly divorce that was finalized last week. He had airline tickets to Canada and $17,000 in cash on his body, some attached to his legs with plastic wrap and some in a girdle, Covina Police Chief Kim Raney said.

Armed with four guns, wearing the Santa suit and carrying a fuel-spraying device wrapped like a present, Pardo showed up at the home at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday as a party of about 25 people was underway, police said

Raney said Pardo, 45, fired a shot into the face of an 8-year-old girl who answered the door and at first shot indiscriminately, then apparently targeted relatives of his ex-wife as other guests fled.

"There's some information that he stood over them and shot them execution-style," Raney said.

Pardo retreated to the front door and retrieved a device that mixed carbon dioxide or oxygen with high-octane racing fuel, police said. Fleeing guests reportedly saw him spraying the fuel inside the house when the vapor was ignited, possibly by a pilot light or a candle, and exploded.

"Mr. Pardo was severely injured during that explosion," Raney said. "He suffered third-degree burns on both arms, and it also appears that the Santa Claus suit that he was wearing did melt onto his body."

Pardo drove to his brother's home in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles, broke in and apparently shot himself in the head. His brother discovered the body early Thursday.

Before the suicide, Pardo used remnants of the Santa suit to booby-trap his rental car to explode, the chief said.

Raney said Pardo wired the suit so that, when it was lifted, it "would pull a trip wire or a switch, ignite a flare inside the car that would then ignite black powder, and he had several hundred rounds of handgun ammunition inside the car."

The device went off as detectives worked to disarm it Thursday, but no one was hurt.

Police said Pardo had no criminal record or history of violence, and neighbors and others knew him as a friendly man who walked his dog and was a volunteer usher at his parish church.