The Covina massacre was a mass murder carried out on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

, 2008 by a disgruntled ex-husband in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

, United States. Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, wearing a

Santa suit A Santa suit is a suit worn by a person portraying the legendary figure Santa Claus. The modern American version of the suit can be attributed to the work of Thomas Nast for ''Harper's Weekly'' magazine, although it is often thought that Haddon ...

, entered a property belonging to his former in-laws in

Covina Covina (Help:IPA/English, /koviːnə/) is a city in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles The population was 51,268 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

and killed nine people by

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

or by

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

from the fire he started. Pardo was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot at his brother's residence in the early hours of

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...

. Police speculated that Pardo's divorce, which had been finalized only one week before the killings, was a factor in why Pardo had decided to kill his ex-wife and her relatives.

Killings

At approximately 11:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, Bruce Pardo, dressed in a Santa suit, arrived at his former in-law's house in a rental car. He had with him multiple

9mm This is a list of firearm cartridges that have bullets in the to caliber In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviate ...

SIG Sauer SIG Sauer is since the 1970s a combined brand name of several Firearms manufacturing companies, with SIG referring to ''Swiss Industry Group'' originally founded 1853, while the latter part comes from Sauer & Sohn, founded in 1751 in Germany a ...

handgun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...

s and a large gift-wrapped package containing a rolling

air compressor An air compressor is a machine that takes ambient air from the surroundings and discharges it at a higher pressure. It is an application of a gas compressor and a Pneumatics, pneumatic device that energy conversion, converts mechanical power (from ...

converted to spray racing fuel. When he knocked on the door and his 8-year-old niece answered, Pardo pulled out the handguns and immediately shot, wounding her. He then fired indiscriminately at fleeing party-goers. After opening fire with the handguns, Pardo unwrapped the package containing the compressor and sprayed fuel around the interior of the home. Police believe the fire was intended to be ignited with a flare but when the fuel contacted an open flame in the house there was an explosion. Between the gunfire and the flames, a total of nine family members were killed and three were injured. One of the survivors made it to a neighbor's house, where she called police and identified Pardo as the likely suspect. Pardo had apparently planned a detailed escape. He had rented multiple vehicles and parked one near the house of his ex-wife's divorce attorney, full of supplies and maps of the Southwest and Mexico. Police speculated the attorney might have also been a target. Pardo had also made plans to visit a friend in Iowa and had purchased a Christmas morning plane ticket from Los Angeles to Moline,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. He was also carrying cash strapped to his body. However, the explosion and fire had left Pardo with

third-degree burns A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ionizing radiation (such as sunburn, caused by ultraviolet radiation). Most burns are due to heat from hot fluids (called scalding), solids, ...

on his arms and legs. After setting the home on fire, Pardo changed out of the Santa suit and drove to his brother's house in

Sylmar Sylmar is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley and the northernmost neighborhood within the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Historically known for its profusion of sylvan olive orchards, Sylmar can trace its past t ...

, where he was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the mouth at around 3am. His brother was not present in the home at the time of Pardo's death. The medical examiners found that

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

was in his system at the time of the attack and his death. Pardo's rental car, parked one block from his brother's house, contained remnants of his Santa suit, booby-trapped so that moving the suit would trigger a fire and set off 200 rounds of ammunition. At Pardo's house in Montrose, police had recovered five empty boxes for semiautomatic handguns, two

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

s and a container for high-

octane Octane is a hydrocarbon and also an alkane with the chemical formula C8H18, and the condensed structural formula CH3(CH2)6CH3. Octane has many structural isomers that differ by the location of branching in the carbon chain. One of these isomers ...

fuel tank gasoline. They also found what was described as a "virtual bomb-making factory" in his home.

Victims

In addition to three injured victims, the nine deceased victims include: Sylvia Ortega Pardo, age 43, ex-wife of Bruce Pardo;"Coroner IDs last 2 Covina massacre victims"
/ref> Alicia Sotomayor Ortega, age 70, mother-in-law; Joseph S. Ortega, age 79, father-in-law; Charles Ortega, age 50, brother-in-law; Cheri Lynn Ortega, age 45, sister-in-law; James Ortega, age 52, brother-in-law; Teresa Ortega, age 52, sister-in-law; Alicia Ortega Ortiz, age 46, sister-in-law; Michael Andre Ortiz, age 17, nephew.

Perpetrator

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo was born on March 23, 1963, and lived in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

. Pardo was a graduate of

John H. Francis Polytechnic High School John H. Francis Polytechnic High School is a secondary school located in the Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It serves grades 9 through 12 and is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Despite its n ...

Sun Valley, Los Angeles Sun Valley is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California in the San Fernando Valley region. The neighborhood is known for its younger population. There are three recreation centers in Sun Valley, one of which is a historic site. The neighborhood ...

, and

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

. He had worked at the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

La Cañada Flintridge LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

. In 2004, he met Sylvia Pardo (née Ortega).

Motivation

Police speculate that the motive of Pardo's attack was related to marital problems. After the couple wed in January 2006, their marriage quickly fell apart within the first year because Pardo refused to open a joint bank account with Sylvia; he also expected his wife to use her own finances to take care of her own three children. There is some speculation that the divorce may have also been caused by Pardo concealing a child from a previous relationship for which Pardo did not pay child or spousal support. In June 2008, a divorce court ordered Pardo to pay $1,785 a month in spousal support. During the divorce proceedings, Pardo confided to a friend his wife was "taking him to the cleaners." In July, Pardo, who had no criminal record or history of violence, was fired from his job as an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

at ITT Corporation Electronic Systems Radar Systems for billing false hours. The divorce court suspended the support payments due to financial hardship. However, as part of the divorce settlement, Pardo was required to pay his ex-wife $10,000, and she was permitted to keep her wedding ring and family dog. Pardo complained to the court that Sylvia was living with her parents, not paying rent, and had spent lavishly on a luxury car, gambling trips to Las Vegas, meals at expensive restaurants, massages, and golf lessons. Pardo and Sylvia finalized their divorce a week prior to the attack.

Depiction in media

Music

Poly Styrene Marianne Joan Elliott-Said (3 July 1957 – 25 April 2011), known by the stage name Poly Styrene, was an English musician, singer-songwriter, and frontwoman for the punk rock band X-Ray Spex. She was recognized as rock's original Riot grrrl, t ...

, the lead singer of

X-Ray Spex X-Ray Spex were an English punk rock band formed in 1976 in London. During their first incarnation (1976–1979), X-Ray Spex released five singles and one album. Their 1977 single " Oh Bondage Up Yours!" and 1978 debut album '' Germfree Adol ...

, recorded a song based on the shooting in 2010 called "Black Christmas". The music video contains references to the shooting.

References

External links

Covina Holiday Murders
– ''

San Gabriel Valley Tribune The ''San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' is a paid daily newspaper headquartered in Monrovia, California, that serves the central and eastern San Gabriel Valley. It operated from a West Covina location from 1955 to 2015. The ''Tribune'' is a member of ...