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Police: 'Santa' shooting kills at least 6 in LA
AP ^ | 12/25/08 | Christina Hoag

Posted on 12/25/2008 7:25:38 PM PST by Callahan

COVINA, Calif. (AP) - 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: badsanta; christmas; christmaseve; covina; crime; massacre; murder; santa
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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.

Prayers for the victims of this insane tragedy. The Universalists believe we are experiencing Hell here on earth and at times I'm inclined to believe it. What posessed this guy to shoot an 8-year old girl in the face while dressed as Santa Claus?

1 posted on 12/25/2008 7:25:39 PM PST by Callahan
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To: Callahan

Uh, maybe California style divorce?
Just a thought.


2 posted on 12/25/2008 7:33:23 PM PST by 9422WMR (When seconds count, the cops are only minutes away.)
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To: Callahan; wagglebee

Disgusting beyond words. The only consolation is that he killed himself, thus no longer posing any threat to any other human being on this planet.

If only someone else had been carrying......


3 posted on 12/25/2008 7:34:19 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Callahan
Los Angeles Times | Thursday, Dec. 25, 2008 | 6:32 p.m. PST


Breaking News: Death toll climbs to 9 in Covina Christmas Eve party shooting


Authorities have confirmed the bodies of nine victims have been found in the wake of a shooting at a Christmas Eve party in Covina. The gunman, a distraught man dressed as Santa Claus, was found dead several hours after the shooting.


More soon at: http://link.latimes.com/r/G8F1DR/RLULI/EQE4T3/FFG2/XTHOYS/6C/t

4 posted on 12/25/2008 7:35:45 PM PST by granite ("We dare not tempt them with weakness" - JFK)
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To: Callahan

Pure selfishness in an empty husk of a man, that’s what.

This world is full of unpredictable horrors. There is no cause for joy or thankfulness unless a savior was truly born this Christmas. We are powerless against the forces of evil. A baby girl opens the door and a monster shoots her and kills others. What the **** can anyone do to prevent such random horrors?


5 posted on 12/25/2008 7:37:40 PM PST by Soothesayer (The United States of America Rest in Peace November 4 2008)
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To: 9422WMR
these things get nasty fast,especially in California courts.
6 posted on 12/25/2008 7:37:55 PM PST by easternsky
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To: metmom

Would have made no difference if they had a gun in the house, this was totally unexpected from the looks of things.


7 posted on 12/25/2008 7:38:36 PM PST by Soothesayer (The United States of America Rest in Peace November 4 2008)
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To: Callahan

Prayers for the victims. RIP.


8 posted on 12/25/2008 7:40:40 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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To: metmom

“If only someone else had been carrying......”

And how do you know nobody was?


9 posted on 12/25/2008 7:44:24 PM PST by gracesdad
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To: Soothesayer

I thought that if someone was actually carrying, they could have stopped the guy. Going for a gun in a situation that unexpected may not have been quick enough, sad to say.

But who would think that they needed to carry to a family Christmas party?


10 posted on 12/25/2008 7:44:43 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Soothesayer

Evil exists. It always has and always will.


11 posted on 12/25/2008 7:45:12 PM PST by nobama08
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To: Soothesayer

“What the **** can anyone do to prevent such random horrors?”

I understand your feelings, but these acts are not random. Someone plans them out, sometimes in considerable detail ofer years.

Random would be someone just picking up a gun and shooting the first person they see.

This particular event was planned. Getting the gun, ammo, loading up, putting on the Santa suit, step by step a series of decisions leading to horror.

How do you prevent these things from happening? Reduce the success rate sharply, so that someone making such a plan would soon think EPIC FAIL (to use a net meme). Not completing the task, ridicule in the press (limited press coverage too), maybe living in prison with severe wounds, death before completion, public ridicule.


12 posted on 12/25/2008 7:45:36 PM PST by DBrow
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To: metmom

“If only someone else had been carrying......”

Or a handgun in a quick-access lockbox, it may have cut the toll down to three.

People generally don’t carry at parties, though I’ve been Designated Driver with a hot one in a holster a time or two, and known of other DD’s who have carried, but mostly for dealing with the street outside the party.


13 posted on 12/25/2008 7:48:58 PM PST by DBrow
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To: Callahan
which Pardo set ablaze using a bizarre homemade device that sprayed flammable liquid.

Santa had a flamethrower? WTF?

14 posted on 12/25/2008 7:49:53 PM PST by Drew68
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To: Callahan
I hope he used a revolver in addition to that home made flamethrower (The ‘bizarre device’) and not an ugly black gun, what the graboids, including B. Hussien, call an “assault weapon”

OTOH, I wish someone else in the house had possessed and used an intermediate caliber semiautomatic rifle with a full capacity magazine, or one of the other weapons that BHO and the 'rat Congress would take, to defend themselves. But those are in fact are pretty much banned in California anyway.

15 posted on 12/25/2008 7:50:55 PM PST by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: Callahan

If he’d have been an Alaska trooper.....


16 posted on 12/25/2008 7:52:29 PM PST by Homer1
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To: Professional Engineer

bizarro Santa ping


17 posted on 12/25/2008 7:53:03 PM PST by Peanut Gallery ("...evolution doesn't fully explain the mystery of life" ~ George W. Bush)
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To: Callahan

How odd that the article never refers to the odd, bizarre pressurized device that dispensed a flammable liquid as a “flamethrower”, eh?


18 posted on 12/25/2008 7:56:53 PM PST by DBrow
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To: Soothesayer

My wife and I asked that question years ago in Memphis,TN after the evening news came on.
The news reported several other shooting between thirteen and fourteen year olds. The newscaster was saying there is no answer!
Then I remembered, just that morning as we read through a chapter of Proverbs, and this is what Chapter 16, verse six said: “By truth and mercy iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.”
Our children have not been taught the “fear of the Lord.” Death is not the end, it is just the beginning!


19 posted on 12/25/2008 7:57:48 PM PST by LetMarch (If a man knows the right way to live, and does not live it, there is no greater coward--Anonymous))
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To: Callahan

The poor people who had to respond to this tragedy will be haunted as well


20 posted on 12/25/2008 7:58:08 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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