Talk about Bad Santa.
Right around the time I was asking my wife where Santa was last night—I guessed Lawrence, Kan., though I’m not sure why—a man dressed like Old St. Nick showed up at a Christmas Eve party in the San Gabriel Valley, about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, and opened fire on partygoers:
Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, knocked on the front door of a home on the 1100 block of Knollcrest Drive in Covina around 11:30 Wednesday night, said Covina Police Lt. Pat Buchanan. Thought to be someone hired to entertain children at the party, Pardo was let in the house and immediately opened fire with a handgun, Buchanan said.
Partygoers fled the house in panic, running to neighbors and frantically calling police.
Shortly after, the two-story house located at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac was fully engulfed in flames, fire officials said. It took about an hour and a half to extinguish the fire.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting three dead; The New York Times says at least five. It’s not clear if Pardo knew he people in he house or if entertainment had been hired. He eventually killed himself outside his brother’s house.
So much for silent night.
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