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Covina police name victims in Christmas Eve massacre

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Police have released the names of the nine people believed killed in the Christmas Eve massacre in Covina.

They include Sylvia Pardo, the 43-year-old ex-wife of the shooter, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo.

Covina Police Lt. Pat Buchanan says the others are the woman’s parents: 80-year-old Joseph Ortega and 70-year-old Alicia Ortega; her 46-year-old sister, Alicia Ortiz; and her sister’s 17-year-old son, Michael Ortiz.

Also unaccounted for are Sylvia Pardo’s brother Charles Ortega, 50, and his wife, Cheri, 45; another brother, James, 52, and his wife, Teresa, 51.

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Police still list the victims as missing. That’s because coroner’s officials say the nine bodies are too badly charred for immediate identification.

The nine people died when Bruce Pardo, wearing a Santa costume, shot his way into his former in-laws’ Covina home during a Christmas Eve party. He used racing fuel to torch the home, which quickly burned. Pardo killed himself hours later.

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