Dec 26, 20204 min read

The Covina Christmas Eve Massacre

Background

Bruce Jeffery Pardo was born on March 23rd, 1963. His future wife, Sylvia Ortega, was born on July 5th, 1965.

The pair met in 2004 and got married in January of 2006. Not long after, they began having marital problems.

The couple began going through the process of legally separating. During this, Sylvia moved back in with her parents.

The Party and The Crime

On December 24th, 2008, Joseph and Alicia Ortega invited their five children and more family over to 1129 East Knollcrest Drive in Covina, California, near Los Angeles. In total, there were roughly 25 to 30 people in the house for the holiday celebration.

Late into the night, most of the adults at the party were at the front of the house. The children were in the back of the house, playing video games and hanging out. 17-year-old Michael was upstairs on his computer.

All was normal until there was a knock on the door. 8-year-old Katrina Yuzefpolsky ran to a window to see who it was. Standing outside the door was Santa, holding a large and neatly wrapped present. Excited, she ran and threw the door open, only to be met with something way worse than Santa.

Warning: details following this may be disturbing to some readers. Proceed with caution.

After Katrina opened the door, people say Santa picked her up and after this, shot her in the face. Luckily, Katrina turned her head at the last minute and, although she suffered a gunshot wound to the jaw, she survived.

Following this first shot, he continued to fire into the family. He shot the two brothers at the event, James and Charles. One of the brothers recognized the Santa shooter as Bruce Pardo and called it out to the family. According to a cousin of the Ortegas, survivors recall James and Charles getting up after being shot and trying to stop Pardo. They had been shot and were bleeding and still tried to save their family.

It is unclear what happened to many of the family members but it is known that when they ran, some were shot or injured. One 16-year-old girl was treated for a gunshot wound in the back, but she survived. An Ortega aunt broke her ankle while fleeing.

Unfourtunately, the brothers didn't stop Pardo. After shooting them, he moved to the dining room, where his intended targets were. Sylvia, her parents and a sister were under the table, hoping to hide. It was here that Pardo shot and killed them.

After shooting multiple people in the Ortega family, Pardo opened the gift he had brought and used his homemade flamethrower to engulf the family home in fire.

Katrina's mother, Leticia, had grabbed her daughter and ran from the house. She went to a neighbor's house and called for cops and firefighters. By the time the firefighters arrived at the Ortega home, they found flames shooting as high as 50 to 70 feet in the air.

It took over 80 firefighters an hour and a half to battle the flames.

The Victims

In the end, nine people died at the hands of Bruce Pardo. Due to the fire, it was hard to determine cause of death for most of the victims. Dental records were used to ID the victims.

Sylvia Ortega, age 43, was Pardo's ex-wife. She died of a gunshot wound.
Alicia Sotomayor Ortega, age 70, was Sylvia's mother. She died of a gunshot wound.
Joseph Ortega, age 80, was Sylvia's father. He died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Charles Ortega, age 49, was one of Sylvia's brothers. His cause of death is undetermined, but is probably a combination of gunshot wounds and the fire.
Cheri Lynn Ortega, age 45, was Charles' wife. Her cause of death is the same as his.
James Ortega, age 51, was Sylvia's other brother at the party. Like his brother, his cause of death was undetermined but assumed.
Teresa Ortega, age 52, was James' wife. Like his, her cause of death was undetermined but assumed.
Alicia Ortega Ortiz, age 46, was Sylvia's sister. It is believed she was under the table with Sylvia and her parents, so it can be assumed she died of a gunshot wound but it was not confirmed.
Michael Andre Ortiz, age 17, was Alicia's son and Sylvia's nephew. It is believed he died in the fire.

After His Attack

Bruce Pardo wasn't done with his un-Santa-like rampage. After causing mayhem and taking multiple lives at the Ortega home, he changed his clothes, got in his rental car and drove to his brother's house 30 miles away.

It was here, with parts of the Santa suit melted to him and third-degree burns on his body that Pardo committed suicide. Based on autopsy reports, it is thought that Pardo put his gun in his mouth before pulling the trigger.

Suicide was not Pardo's original plan. With his body, investigators found a plane ticket (one source says to Canada, another says Illinois) and $17,000 in cash. It is believed the original plan was to massacre his ex-wife's family and then flee. However, he changed his plans when he didn't escape the flames in time. Pardo suffered second- and third-degree burns. His Santa suit had melted to his skin and was not coming off. It is believed he changed his plans when he knew he wouldn't be able to avoid treatment.

Pardo's rental car was found a block from his brother's house, his Santa suit inside. It appeared to be rigged into a bomb. A bomb squad took over the scene and detonated the car safely, before it could hurt anyone.