Man in Santa Suit Kills at Least 5 at Holiday Party

N Y Times ^ | December 25, 2008 | ANAHAD O’CONNOR

[An Old Man]

In a bizarre Christmas Eve rampage, a 45-year-old man in a Santa Claus outfit showed up at a party in a Los Angeles suburb and opened fire at a group of revelers, killing at least five people and injuring several others, including two children, the authorities said on Thursday.

[An Old Man]

There is more information at the Link to the Times.

[The KG9 Kid]

Mugshot looks like it came straight out of central casting for a twisted crime like this.

[Always Right]

Prayers for all the families involved.

[An Old Man]

What is even more scarry, is that I went to school with someone who is a dead ringer for him! My first look at the picture sent chills down my spine until I read the entire article.

[Yossarian]

My God, how sick.

May the perp soon be judged by The Man who’s birthday he desecrated.

[RichInOC]

“Patrick Warburton goes bad...team coverage at eleven.”

[EGPWS]

An awful lot of “create mayhem and turmoil and killing one's self” going on lately as reported.

[apocalypto]

I agree. Horrible.

[EGPWS]

Mugshot looks like it came straight out of central casting for a twisted crime like this.

That being the case, what generated the "mugshot"?

[DB]

I don’t think much of the police in this case.

First they wait outside until the shooting stops - and more people are murdered -, which apparently was awhile. They have armor, why not use it?

And then they don’t close off the streets so the guy just walks out and leaves after they kindly wait for him to get done...

Great police work...

[ETL]

"Authorities say three others were injured, including an 8-year-old girl and a woman in her 20s who suffered gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening.

A third victim reportedly ran upstairs in the house and jumped from a second-story window to escape the attack, breaking her ankle during the fall, MyFOXLA reported.

The attacker was reportedly throwing molotov cocktails, which may have set off the blaze, witnesses told MYFOXLA.

Police received several 911 calls with reports of shots fired at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night, and were still hearing gunshots after they arrived and found the house in flames, Buchanan said.

At first, firefighters were held back by police because shots were still being fired, though it may have been ammunition burning in the blaze, fire Captain Mike Brown said."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,472844,00.html

[An Old Man]

The police were not there to stop the mayhem. Their job is only to make a report after the perpetrator has ceased to be a danger to them.

That is why they let him escape.

[Drew68]

That being the case, what generated the "mugshot"?

Looks more like a driver's license photo than a mugshot.

[ETL]

From the linked Times article:

"The suspect, identified by witnesses as Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, later killed himself in front of his brother’s house about 40 miles away, the police said."

[Free State Four]

Only the NYT would have to put a link in the article to explain to its readers who Santa Claus is. Guess it says something about who reads the NYT.

[AuntB]

“”The suspect, identified by witnesses as Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, later killed himself in front of his brother’s house about 40 miles away, the police said.””

Well, at least he had the brains to do that.

[NRA2BFree]

I just read the article on Brietbart and it said after they found the first three dead that they found "several" more bodies in the burned house.

It's hard to understand something so terrible. Prayers up for their loved ones. May God comfort them all and give them strength for the difficult days ahead. They're going to need it.

[NRA2BFree]

They have armor, why not use it?

The house was fully engulfed in flames and they couldn't go in. The police wouldn't let them.

[Salvey]

Now, if one of those poor souls had a handgun or shotgun and knew how to use it...