Covina: Man, 50, and wife among nine family members slain
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Charles Ortega, a 50-year-old Latino, was killed along with his wife and seven other family members during a rampage at his parent’s annual Christmas Eve party at their home in the 1100 block of Knollcrest Drive in Covina late in the evening of Dec. 24, 2008.
The attack began when Ortega’s former brother-in-law, Bruce Jeffery Pardo, 45, went to the party uninvited and dressed in a Santa Claus suit about 11:30 p.m.
When an 8-year-old girl opened the door after he knocked, Bruce Pardo shot her in the face, wounding her. Inside the home he shot 10 others, killing nine and injuring a 16-year-old girl whom he shot in the back.
Amid the chaos, Pardo doused the home in fuel and set it on fire. He left the scene and drove to his brother’s home in Sylmar with severe burns. His brother found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot and called police about 3:30 a.m. Christmas Day.
Police said Pardo launched the attack armed with four semi-automatic weapons and a canister of fuel. He appeared to have made multiple escape plans.
-- Joel Rubin, Ari B. Bloomekatz and Tami Abdollah
