A man dressed as Santa Claus opened fire on a Christmas Eve party outside Los Angeles and then fled as the house went up in flames. The body count stands at five, but there are several more bodies among the ashes and the suspect has been found dead, the victim of a suicide.
Police found the body of suspect Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, at the home of his brother early Thursday in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles. Police said he killed himself but would not say how.
Assistant Chief Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office said the bodies were too badly burned to immediately determine whether the victims died in the shootings or the fire. The search through the destroyed home is expected to take at least until the end of the day.
"We have multiple bodies inside," Winter said. "They're extremely charred and burned."
The gunman arrived at the party in Covina late Wednesday and immediately opened fire with a handgun, Buchanan said. Witnesses told police that the man took off the Santa suit and left the scene of the burning house in street clothes.
"He was going through some type of marital problems, and we believe that this residence is a relative's residence," Lt. Pat Buchanan said.
Jan Gregory, a neighbor, said about 25 people were at the party when the gunshots rang out and people started running from the house.
She said she saw a teenage boy flee the house screaming, "They shot my family."
Buchanan said three other people were injured. A woman in her 20s and an 8-year-old girl had gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening, and a third person had a broken ankle.
Police received several 911 calls with reports of shots fired at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night, and were still hearing gunshots after they arrived and found the house in flames, Buchanan said.
At first, firefighters were held back by police because shots were still being fired, though it may have been ammunition burning in the blaze, fire Captain Mike Brown said.
Firefighters had extinguished the blaze by about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, fire Captain Mike Brown said.
The two-story home on a cul-de-sac was destroyed in Covina, a quiet suburb 25 miles east of Los Angeles.
"This neighborhood is really quiet," said Jeffrey Barrientos, who lives half a block from the house that burned. Barrientos said the neighborhood's residents were mostly retirees and elderly people.
