The Santa Massacre also known as The Covina massacre occurred on December 24, 2008, in Covina, the suburbs of L.A, California, U.S. Nine people were killed all from the same familly, either by gunshot wounds or by fire resulting from a home made flamethrower inside a house on 1129 East Knollcrest Drive, where a annual Christmas Eve party was being held. 45-year-old Bruce Pardo, who entered the house wearing a Santa suit with four semi-automatic hand guns, 200 rounds of ammunition and a homemade flamethrower that contained high octane motor racing fuel the type used in F1 known for it's intense heat and swift burning rate. Pardo's divorce from his wife Sylvia had been finalised on December 18, one week before the massacre. Bruce's wife had rumoured to have left him because she found out that he had been hiding the fact that he had a child with a severe brain injury. No one can really say why Sylvia took such strong exception to this but she apparently did. Bruce found it hard paying the spousal support that Sylvia wanted so he doctored his time sheets at work but was caught and he was fired only adding to his depression and what he saw as alienation from the family. To make matters worse he felt Sylvia was now living the glamorous life, going on vacations, getting massages and buying new clothes while he was barely eating. Whatever the reasons Bruce decided to pay a visit to the party uninvited. Wearing a Santa Suit that he had rented a week earlier, he knocked on his ex-wives parents front door and when an 8 year old guest (Sylvia's sister's daughter) looked out the window and saw Santa carrying a big red bag, she bounced to the door to open it thinking he was bringing gifts, when she did, Pardo shot her in the face. He then stepped over the body of the child where he was confronted by his ex-wife who he promptly shot in the face and killed, when her mother ran screaming to tend to her daughter she was executed at close rage the entry wound being at the top of the head twice, the father ran over and was shot twice in the face and killed instantly. From there he pulled out of his santa's sack the home made flamethrower he had made and started spraying the 21 remaining guests. The lethal cocktail of Oxegen and racing car fuel meant that the skin literally instantly melted off of the bodies it made contact with exposing bone. The people who escaped jumped out windows on the second floor and were rescued by passerby's who reportedly say people running from the house on fire (It took 80 firefighters to eventually put out the fire.) When Bruce thought everyone was dead in the house he went and got into his car and started to drive to his brothers, Pardo had bought a ticket to Canada in the morning when he planed to make his escape but his Santa suit had melted and was now fused to his body and he knew he could not go anywhere and would need to go to the hospital, knowing this was impossible, her went to his brothers (he wasn't home) and shot himself. Betrayal, alienation or financial problems he felt his ex-wife directly responsible for, as he never left a suicide note I guess the world will never know forsake what made this well liked man flip. Although a horrid crime you gotta give the dude points for creativity! Reports say if he had not burned himself so bad from the Santa suit, his next stop was his ex-wife's divorce lawyer than his own mother. Before he committed suicide he bobby trapped his car that had to be detonated by SWAT in a controlled explosion. Classification: Spree Killer Characteristics: Murder by fire and gun fire Number of victims: 9 confirmed, 14 people with life changing injuries Victims: Sylvia Ortega Pardo Alicia Sotomayor Ortega Joseph S. Ortega Charles Ortega Cheri Lynn Ortega James Ortega Teresa Ortega Alicia Ortega Ortiz Michael Andre Ortiz Date of murders: Dec 24th 2008
