Scary and Tragic news!
I got this in a subscribed email yesterday. This is a very shocking and tragic news. I hope and pray that the victims will rest in peace!! really very sad!! have a happy, safe and blessed New Year to all of us!! hopefully next year will be a better one!!
Santa kills at least 6, then himself
A gunman dressed as Santa opened fire on a suburban Los Angeles holiday party, killing at least six people before killing himself, police said Thursday.
Three people at the party were unaccounted for late Thursday afternoon as coroner’s office personnel searched the ruins of the house, which the gunman set on fire during the Wednesday night assault, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The gunman, identified by witnesses as Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, used an accelerant in setting the fire at the home, which is owned by his ex-wife’s parents, the newspaper said. Several hours after the assault, Pardo was found dead — apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot — at his home in Sylmar, Calif., about 25 miles from the scene of the killings.
Police said at least 30 people were at the home for the Christmas Eve party. Three people, ages 8, 13 and 16, were injured in the assault at the house party and taken to hospitals.
Covina Police Chief Kim Rainey said Pardo knocked on the front door of the home 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and when an 8-year-old girl answered the door Pardo shot her in the face. He then entered the house and started firing a semiautomatic handgun, police said.
Pardo then sprayed a flammable substance around before setting the fire.
Pardo had been recently divorced and may have lost his job, the Times said. Police and acquaintances said he had worked as an engineer in the aerospace industry.
Covina Police Lt. Pat Buchanan said none of the dead had been identified by Thursday afternoon, noting that the bodies had been badly burned. Pardo’s ex-wife and her parents had not been accounted for and were among the missing or dead, police said.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International.
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