Santa gunman kills wife and in-laws

bruce-pardo.jpg

Recently, a person had made note of his wife using their son (as sole dependent) to evade tax. Such a declaration of ‘sole dependent’ should need the counter-signature of the other parent to be legal.
In a similar story, a deceptive man made use of a child’s name to evade tax (without knowledge/written consent of other parent/girlfriend), divorced his wife, and killed 9 of his in-laws. He later shot himself after getting burned in his Santa suit.

Santa gunman lost job, wife before gory attack
Dec. 27, 2008 MONTROSE, Calif. Bruce and Sylvia Pardo started the new year in 2006 with all signs pointing to a bright future – an upcoming marriage, a combined income of about $150,000, half-million-dollar home on a quiet cul-de-sac and a beloved dog, Saki.
But things quickly turned sour and divorce documents paint a bitter picture of Bruce Pardo’s increasing desperation as he lost first his wife, then his job and finally the dog. By fall 2008, Pardo was asking a judge to have his ex-wife pay him support and cover his attorney’s fees.
Pardo’s downward slide ended Christmas Eve, when the 45-year-old electrical engineer donned a Santa suit and massacred nine people at his former in-laws’ house in Covina, where a family Christmas party was under way. He then used a homemade device disguised as a present to spray racing fuel that quickly sent the home up in flames.
Pardo had planned to flee to Canada following the killing spree but suffered third-degree burns in the fire – which melted part of the Santa suit to him – and decided to kill himself instead, investigators said. His body, with a bullet wound to the head, was found at his brother’s home about 40 miles away.
The rented compact car he had driven to his former in-laws house was rigged to set off 500 rounds of ammunition and later exploded outside his brother’s home. No one was injured.
Police found a second car rented by Pardo late Saturday. A Glendale resident recognized the vehicle, as described on the evening news, because it was parked in front of his house.
Covina police spokesman Pat Buchanan said the Glendale neighborhood the car was found in has been evacuated, and the bomb squad is using a robot to approach the vehicle.
The slaughter came six days after Pardo and his ex-wife appeared in court to finalize their divorce. Police believe the dead included Sylvia Pardo, 43, and her parents, Joseph Ortega, 80, and his 70-year-old wife, Alicia. Other suspected victims were Sylvia Pardo’s two brothers and their wives, her sister and a 17-year-old nephew.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *