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Police: Santa gunman planned to flee to Canada
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-27 09:17

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.


Bruce Jeffrey Pardo is seen in an undated photo provided Thursday, December 25, 2008, by the Covina, Calif. Police Department. Covina Police have identified the 45-year-old Prado as a 'person of interest' after a man in a Santa suit opened fire at a Christmas Eve party in a suburban Los Angeles home that subsequently caught fire, leaving three people dead. [Agencies] 

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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.