” The Christmas Party Massacre ” From Bizarre Buffet Podcast
The Killer Santa, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo. The Covina massacre occurred on December 24, 2008, in Covina, a city in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California, United States. Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, who had entered the house wearing a Santa suit, killed nine people inside a house at 1129 East Knollcrest Drive, where a Christmas Eve party was being held.
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” Christmas Party Massacre ” I Episode Credits
Hosted By Mark Tauriello , Jen Wilson , & Marc Bluestein
Original Episode Art By Mark Tauriello
Original Story / Episode Concept By Jen Wilson
Episode Production By Marc Bluestein
” Christmas Party Massacre ” I Show Notes
Question : How Do You Feel About Holiday Gatherings ?
LETS SET IT UP Y’ALL
On December 24, 2008 in Covina, California, a Christmas Eve party was happening at the home of Alicia and Joseph Ortega. They hosted 25 people at their home.
All was merry and bright, until there was a knock at the door. At about 11 pm, Santa arrived with a gift wrapped package! What was inside? A rolling air compressor converted to deliver gasoline, and 4 9mm semi automatic handguns.
Moments after the door opened, Santa pulled out the handguns, and immediately started shooting killing 9 people including the hosts. He then burned the house down.
You May Be Asking, Who Was Santa !?
Bruce Jeffrey Pardo was the man behind the beard, and you might be wondering, “what was the motive behind the attack?”
Alicia and Joseph Ortega (the hosts) were Bruce’s former in-laws. His divorce to ex wife Sylvia Ortego Pardo was finalized on December 18, a week prior to the massacre. They were only married for a year.
What Was His Motive?
Pardo had no criminal record and no history of violence. He was however, fired from his job in June 2008 as an electrical engineer at ITT for billing false hours.
Bruce met Sylvia Ortega and wed in 2006, but there was trouble in paradise soon after. He refused to open a joint checking account with Sylvia, and expected her to take care of her own three children with her own finances.
There was also speculation that he was concealing a child from a previous relationship. That child was injured in a swimming pool accident a few years prior. Bruce did not support the child, nor did he pay any child support to his ex wife and her children.
In July 2008, divorce court ordered Pardo to pay Ortega $1785 a month in spousal support. He allegedly told a friend, “She’s taking me to the cleaners”.
He was required to pay $10,000 as part of the divorce settlement. Sylvia kept the dog and wedding ring. In a court declaration good old Brucey complained that she was living with her parents and not paying rent. He also stated that she spent lavishly on a luxury car, gambling trips to Vegas, meals at fine restaurants, spas, and golf lessons.
The Attack
When Brucey Claus showed up to the Ortega home, He shot at his 8 year old niece, Katrina as she ran to greet him fatally injuring her. He then opened fire at the party.
Police speculate that he may have stood over and pointedly executed some of the party goers using the handguns.
After the shootings , he unwrapped the package he brought containing the compressor and used gasoline to set the house on fire. Nine people were killed (his ex wife included) and three were injured (Katrina, a 16 year old who was shot in the back and wounded, and a 20 year old with a broken ankle jumping out of the second story floor).
One survivor managed to escape and run to the neighbor’s house and called the police.
The fire soared from 40-50 feet which took 80 firefighters to put out. It took an hour and a half to put out the fire.
Because the fire was so intense, the identification of the victims were done by dental and medical records.
The Aftermath
Brucey Claus changed out of his Santa suit, and fled in his Dodge Caliber rental to his brother’s house and was later found dead from a self inflicting gunshot wound. His brother was not present at the time of the death.
It was believed that he was fleeing to Canada as authorities found a purchased one way plane ticket on Air Canada. Pardo had called days before to tell a high school friend that he was planning to visit but investigators
were unsure if he actually intended to visit or if the flight was to fool investigators.
Other reports stated that the Santa suit had melted during the flamethrower portion of the attack and had adhered to his skin so not all of it could be removed.
However, suffering from severe third-degree burns on his arms stemming from the blaze, Pardo decided to go against the initial plan.[6][8] Police found $17,000 in cash cling-wrapped on his legs inside a girdle. His rental car, parked one block from his brother’s house, had remnants of his Santa suit. Also recovered from the scene were four 13-round capacity handguns that were empty, and at least 200 rounds of ammunition.[6] Suggesting that what had been inside the car was being treated as a threat, a bomb squad while attempting to remove a portion of the Santa suit with a robot, accidentally started a fire in the vehicle, burning and destroying it.[9] At Pardo’s house in Montrose, police had recovered five empty boxes for semiautomatic handguns, a Benelli M2 Tactical shotgun and a container for high-octane fuel tank gasoline. They also found what was described as a “virtual bomb factory” in his home.[8]
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