Posted on 12/26/2008 3:36:41 PM PST by BunnySlippers
COVINA, Calif. – Law enforcement officials in Southern California say the gunman who killed nine people in a Christmas Eve bloodbath at his ex-in-laws' Covina home intended to flee to Canada but was severely burned before he killed himself.
Police said Friday that after the shooting, 45-year-old Bruce Jeffrey Pardo used a homemade device to spray racing fuel around the home and that the vapor was ignited by a pilot light or candle. He suffered third-degree burns on both arms when it exploded.
Authorities say Pardo's Santa suit actually melted onto his body before he fled.
After Pardo shot himself to death at his brother's home, authorities found $17,000 on him and a plane ticket for a flight from Los Angeles to Canada.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Medicine has no place in legal issues, or moral ones either, for that matter.
The law is simply a crystallized prejudice of the current social mores and changes all of the time.
> Common sense certainly does not.
If somebody has diminished mental capabilities then commonsense certainly does dictate that such a person has diminished responsibility.
That is why you must be compos mentis to sign a Will or to take out a bank loan or to drive a car.
> the term “mentally ill” is a popular brush that paints a very wide - and liberal - swath.
Have much to do with the mentally ill? Or is this just your opinion?
From my viewpoint, I sit on a Board of Trustees of an organization that provides care and services to mentally ill people. They require help in order to function: some more than others. We are not in the habit of providing care and services to healthy people, if for no other reason than we cannot afford to: hardly a “liberal” swath.
> - like doping your son with Ritalin because he is in some way “ill.”
If you are treating your son with Ritalin he will probably have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: both perfectly sensible uses for the drug... except, of course, for medical luddites.
> Medicine has no place in legal issues,
Arrant nonsense! Tell that to the cops next time they blood test you for drink-driving.
> or moral ones either, for that matter.
Sure it does. That is why hospitals have Ethics Committees.
> The law is simply a crystallized prejudice of the current social mores and changes all of the time.
Tell that to the judge just before he sentences you, see how sympathetic he is to your viewpoint.
When I told my husband about it he even asked “Are you sure it wasn’t a movie plot?” It does sound like one.
There's a lot to be said for using the traditional animal hide with natural fur lining.
Mrs. randog tells me that his wife got all the merchandise w/ a lifetime monthly stipend of $1500.
Too bad, so sad. He got what he was dishing out.
I sure hope that none of those people in that house burned to death, but that they were dead before the fire started.
In the meantime, he got his.
Considering everyone was saying what a nice guy he was, his wife must have picked up on something. Unless she was a real piece of work, she is the one who moved out and filed for divorce so something must have warned her to get out.
For which I feel very little sympathy, especially since it's likely that some of the dead burned to death themselves, and he deliberately did that to them.
He only got what he deserved, IMO.
About nine years ago, he and a girlfriend had a child. As a 1-year-old, the boy fell into a pool, nearly drowning. As a result, the child was left physically handicapped. Although Pardo did not support his son financially, he claimed the boy as a dependent for seven years on his tax returns. When Pardo's wife found out about it from a family member, she demanded he stop claiming his son as a dependent. The situation helped lead to the divorce, sources close to the family said.
As part of the settlement, the couple waived spousal support. Earlier in the year, Sylvia had asked the court for spousal support, telling the court her $2,000-a-month salary was not enough for her 6-year-old daughter and herself to find an apartment of their own.
According to court records, Sylvia had asked Pardo to let her and her daughter stay in his Montrose home until the girl finished kindergarten.
"He said I could 'commute,' " the woman told the court, according to transcripts. "When I returned after a weekend at my parents' home, he had moved my belongings out to the driveway."
From this source it sounds as if the guy was a creep for a long time. Anger and the inability to control it, not insanity, seem to have been his problem. Good riddance. Tragic that it came after his murderous spree. He had plenty of sympathy for himself but didn't recognize others as truly human.
That's why I do not trust quiet, settled, nice people!
In this guy's case, the divorce was the "trigger" for something, he was hiding for many years.Remember he was 45 Years old, so an Year old marriage(who didn't work after all) it will be hardly the reason for this evil, heinous and calculated mayhem.
He, must've had much more baggage brought in to his marriage for which I presume hastened the divorce. (remember, did not even last a year)
Furthermore, the elaborate planning of his rampage (...rented car, cash for travel, passport in the shoes, elaborate flame thrower, plenty of ammo for the 4 pistols, rigged out Santa clothes in case somebody removes them) points out to a very deranged individual who is very nice, quiet individual, minding his own business, every day Joe in your neck of the woods.
Well, I will take on the loud ones if you want to know...
A man that had this man’s elaborate and carefully planned escape (cash, passport, ticket, etc) is not mentally ill. Cerntainly not to the point of diminished capacity to discern right from wrong which would diminish his legal and moral culpability.
His actions were in fact those of a “guilty mind” who knew exactly what he was doing and exactly how wrong it was.
Guy kidnaps ex, and ties her up, and drives out into the country, far from anything.
He then shoots himself while sitting next to her in parked car after telling her "This is what you've done to me."
She was found a day or so later still tied up inside the car with his body.
And this is why we can't have nice things...
There’s nothing quite” like divorce” and the holidays for unfettered violence and mayhem.
blame the feminist court system for driving him over edge
Bruce Pardo asked the judge to order his wife to start supporting him. Her lifestyle, he alleged, was proof that she had money to spare.
“Since the date of separation, she bought a new 2009 luxury car, has gone several days gambling in Las Vegas, has frequently been out dining at finer restaurants . . . took a trip to Primm Casino-Resort . . . purchased golf school lessons, has taken a recent vacation to Magic Mountain Amusement Park and visited massage parlors,” he wrote in court filings earlier this month.
I read that she got $10,000, the dog, and her wedding rings.
Agreed. I only wish that someone, anyone else at that party had been armed. As much of a tragedy as the little girl's murder was... perhaps the killing of innocents would have ended then and there.
ALWAYS carry. NEVER tell.
I was thinking the same thing.
P.S. I do believe the little girl lived.
He seemed to have a lot of baggage:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-santa-divorce27-2008dec27,0,1591349.story
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