This story is all over town. I'm getting e-mail from my friends in Kentucky about this.
Stinging from an acrimonious divorce, a man plotting revenge against his ex-wife dressed up like Santa, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party and slaughtered at least six people before killing himself hours later.
Three people were listed as missing after Bruce Pardo's rampage — his ex-wife and her parents — and it was feared their remains were among the ashes of the home, which Pardo set ablaze using a bizarre homemade device that sprayed flammable liquid.
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," police Lt. Pat Buchanan said.
The massacre began when an 8-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.
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-story window. Those two, and the 8-year-old, remained hospitalized Christmas Day.
The gift-wrapped box Pardo was carrying actually contained a pressurized homemade device he used to spray a liquid that quickly sent the house up in flames, police said.
When the fire was extinguished early Thursday, 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 three more bodies amid the ashes later in the day.
None of the dead or missing have been identified.
Following the shootings, Pardo quickly 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 early Thursday, and officers found Pardo dead of a single bullet to the head.
OMG - that is so horrible.
ReplyDeleteAs David said, utterly horrible.
ReplyDeleteThat's right - dress up as Santa and shoot an 8 year old girl in the face.
Fucking Cro-Magnon. Somewhere along the way this straight white male learned that this was an acceptable response to your marriage of less than one year not working out. (How on earth could it not have worked out???)
Good thing marriage is so sacred . . . somehow it must be teh gays' fault. Or Hillary's.