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Re: Christmas Party Massacre
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Police said they recovered six bodies from a Los Angeles house where a man dressed as Santa Claus fired gunshots and started a fire Christmas Eve.
Police said the suspect, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, committed suicide after the attack.
Police said three others, Pardo's ex-mother-in-law, ex-father-in-law and ex-wife, whom he recently divorced -- are still unaccounted for.
At a news conference Thursday, police in Covina, California, said Pardo knocked on the door of his ex-in-law's home, where there was a Christmas party attended by more than 25 people.
After someone opened the door, an 8-year-old girl ran towards the costumed Pardo who shot her in the face, police said.
The 8-year-old, who survived the attack, is in fair condition at a Los Angeles hospital. Police said the girl does have serious wounds, including an entry wound on the right side of her face, and an exit wound on the left side, indicating the bullet likely pierced straight through her face.
Pardo entered the home holding a gun in one hand and a wrapped Christmas package containing a home-made device to spread fire, police said.
Pardo fired indiscriminately as partygoers fled, hid under furniture, threw items to break windows, and in at least one case, jumped out a second-story window, police said.
A 16-year-old girl was hospitalized with a gun shot wound and another victim, who jumped out the window, was taken to a local hospital, police said.
After the shooting, police believe Pardo set fire to the home. Covina Police Department Lt. Pat Buchanan said the device was "something we have never seen before."
Covina Police Chief Kim Raney described it as a pressurized tank attached to another tank filled with accelerant.
Raney said police believe after lighting the fire, Pardo changed out of the Santa suit, went to another relative's home in the nearby suburb of Sylmar and committed suicide.
Authorities made a positive identification of Pardo's body, said Buchanan. Police have not released the identities of any of the victims.
Raney said Pardo's ex-in-laws regularly have a party Christmas Eve and one neighbor always comes by to visit dressed as Santa. This year, that neighbor was away, police said.
Police suggested marital problems as a possible motive for the attack.
Police said they believe Pardo and his wife of one year finally settled a contentious divorce last week.
Authorities said Pardo's name was given to them by people who were at the party.
At the news conference Ed Winter, assistant chief Los Angeles County coroner, said the bodies recovered were "severely burned and charred" and dental and medical records and X-rays will be necessary to establish identities.
Winter said the intense fire caused the top floor of the two-story house to collapse onto the first floor.
Firefighters battled the blaze for an hour and a half before officers "were able to look into the house from the outside and initially saw three bodies in the front portion of the house," Buchanan said.
Police also said they recovered multiple weapons from inside the house.
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