Santa shooter

Former in-laws identified among victims of Santa shooter

The former parents-in-law of a man accused of killing nine people at a Christmas Eve party were among the remains of six people identified Saturday by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.

Three other people remain listed as "missing" and "unidentified" because their remains were too badly burned in the raging house fire that followed the shootings.

Police said Bruce Jeffrey Pardo committed suicide after he went on a shooting rampage dressed as Santa Claus at the party in the Los Angeles suburb of Covina. He targeted his ex-wife, 43-year-old Sylvia Pardo, and her family, police said. He then started the fire, police said.

Authorities said Pardo also may have planned to kill his wife's divorce attorney as well as his own mother, who had planned to attend the party but did not because she was ill.

Killed at the party, according to the coroner's office, were:

• Joseph Ortega, 80, Sylvia Pardo's father, multiple injuries
• Alicia Ortega, 70, Sylvia Pardo's mother, gunshot wound to the abdomen
• Charles Ortega, 50, Sylvia Pardo's brother, multiple gunshot wounds
• Cheri Ortega, 45, Charles Ortega's wife, multiple injuries
• Teresa Ortega, 51, Sylvia Pardo's sister-in-law, smoke inhalation, burns to the body and gunshot wound to right leg
• Alicia Ortiz, 46, Sylvia Pardo's sister, multiple injuries

The remaining three people known to be at the party -- Sylvia Pardo; her brother James "Junior" Ortega, 52; and Michael Ortiz, 17, Sylvia Pardo's nephew and Alicia Ortiz's son -- remain listed as "unidentified" in coroner's files and "missing" in police files.

"We have three unidentified bodies that came out of that location," said Lt. Larry Dietz of the coroner's office. Authorities previously said they were relying on dental records to identify the bodies.

After the shootings, Bruce Pardo left a rental car and a gasoline canister outside the home of attorney Scott Nord, who represented Sylvia Pardo in her divorce, police said. Investigators suspect that Bruce Pardo planned a similar attack at Nord's home.

Authorities described the Pardos' divorce, which was finalized December 18, as "contentious."
Another rented car that Bruce Pardo used to flee the scene was found booby-trapped after the shootings. It burned as a Covina police bomb squad attempted to disconnect an explosive device in it.

Police said Bruce Pardo had an uneasy relationship with his mother, who had sided with Sylvia Pardo in the divorce.