Little girl excitedly cried 'Santa, Santa' before he shot her in the face on doorstep
WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: Bruce Pardo committed one of the worst mass murders in US history when he dressed as Santa Claus and went on a shooting and arson rampage at his ex-wife's family home
A man dressed as Santa Claus turned a festive Christmas Eve into a night of horror. The Ortega family were enjoying a cosy game of Texas Hold 'Em after dinner in Covina, California when suddenly their celebration was shattered by gunfire.
Eight-year-old Katrina Uzefpolsky excitedly cried: "Santa Claus! Santa Claus!" in the moments before as she opened the door to a man carrying a large present.
But inside hid a makeshift flamethrower. Seconds later, the impostor Santa drew handguns and shot the youngster in the face before targeting two more uncles.
Despite the Ortega family's attempts to hide under the dinner table, their efforts couldn't save them from Bruce Jeffrey Pardo's murderous spree. Pardo executed the Ortegas, four of their children, two daughters-in-law and a 17-year-old, who had just been at his computer upstairs.
While those who survived have maintained a silence over the ordeal, other family members from both the US and Mexico have shared the chilling story.
After Pardo shot his eight-year-old niece and her father, James, someone in the room cried out in terror, "It's Bruce! " Charles Ortega fell victim next, following his brother James. Their valiant struggle did not go unnoticed, as their cousin Irmia Chapa Ortega, who resides in Torreon, Mexico, spoke highly of their courage, reports the Express US.
He said: "Even bloodied, they got up, they stood up. They tried to grab him, to stop him. But they couldn't."
The chaos escalated when Pardo unveiled a homemade flamethrower disguised as a present and set the house ablaze with racing fuel gasoline, leading to a deadly fire. Nine people tragically lost their lives due to either the gunfire or the blazing inferno that ensued, and three more suffered injuries.
Those claimed by this appalling act were Pardo's former wife, Sylvia Ortega Pardo, 43, her parents Alicia, 70, and Joseph Ortega, 80. Also among the deceased were Sylvia’s siblings Charles Ortega, 49, James Ortega, 51, and Alicia Ortega Ortiz, 46, along with their partners, Cheri Ortega, 45, Teresa Ortega, 52, and Alicia's son Michael Ortiz, 17.
Eight-year-old Katrina faced severe yet non-life-threatening injuries after being shot in the face. Another 16-year-old girl sustained a back injury from a gunshot, and a 20-year-old woman hurt her ankle falling from a second-story window. One quick-thinking survivor managed to flee and call police from a nearby home.
The fire, started by Pardo, soared to between 40 and 50 feet high, taking around 80 firefighters an hour-and-a-half to put out. The ferocity of the blaze meant that dental and medical records had to be used to identify the victims.
After his horrific attack, Pardo swapped into normal clothes and drove his rental car to his brother's house in Sylmar, about 30 miles away. He was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Initially, it was believed that Pardo planned to flee to Canada as he'd bought a ticket on Air Canada. However, it later emerged that the flight was from Los Angeles, California, to Moline, Illinois, with a layover in Minnesota.
Detectives are still unsure if he intended to get on the flight or if it was just a ploy to throw them off the scent. Bruce Pardo's deadly Christmas assault took an unexpected twist when he suffered severe third-degree burns on his arms from the fire he'd started in 2008.
On examining the scene, police found the attacker with $17,000 cash strapped to his body under cling film and a girdle around his legs. Pardo's rented car, parked near his brother's home, was rigged with parts of his Santa costume designed to ignite black powder and explode if disturbed.
Moreover, police recovered four handguns, each with a 13-round capacity, all empty, and over 200 rounds of ammunition from the scene. Fearing the car could be rigged to explode, a bomb squad was summoned to set off an incendiary device in the vehicle, resulting in it being destroyed by fire.
The motives behind Pardo's horrific Christmas rampage were deeply rooted in his acrimonious divorce from Sylvia. Their marriage reportedly fell apart when Sylvia discovered that Pardo had a disabled child whom he had abandoned.
Tensions escalated when Pardo objected to a joint bank account, expecting Sylvia to solely support her three children. In June 2008, during their divorce proceedings, a court ordered Pardo to pay $1,785 a month in spousal support.
Around this time, it was rumoured that Pardo complained to a friend about his financial struggles with his wife, saying she was "taking him to the cleaners". Pardo's life took a turn for the worse when he was fired from his job as an electrical engineer at ITT Electronic Systems Radar Systems in July for falsifying his work hours, leading the court to suspend his alimony payments due to his unemployment.
It later transpired that Pardo had even more sinister plans beyond the massacre of the Ortega family - he intended to kill his own mother because she sided with Sylvia during their divorce.
"He wanted to kill everyone. Even his own mum," Ms Chapa Ortega declared. "A monster, a monster. That man was a monster. He killed good, hard-working people who had many friends and who loved the United States."
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