'Santa' Gunman planned to flee to Canada after shooting

Californis, Dec 27 (ANI): Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, the prime suspect in the Christmas Eve Santa-suit killings at a suburban L.A. home, who killed himself Thursday, had planned to take a flight from Los Angeles to Canada.

But his Santa suit melted on his body, leaving him with third-degree burns on both arms.

Pardo later shot himself at his brother's home, where authorities found 17,000 dollars on him and a plane ticket, FOX news quoted the police, as saying.

Prado plotted revenge against his ex-wife dressed up like Santa, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party, shot at partygoers and destroyed his former in-laws' house with a homemade device that sprayed flammable liquid, slaughtering at least nine people.

Police say Pardo used a homemade device to spray racing fuel around the home and that the vapor was ignited by a pilot light or candle.

They found what they described as a virtual bomb-making factory at Pardo's Montrose home, and that a rented car he had been driving was full of explosives and ammo.

Court documents showed Pardo had been employed at the radar division of ITT Electronic Systems, a military defense supplier, until July.

Los Angeles County coroner's official Lt. Larry Dietz announced on Friday that a ninth body was recovered from the home. All of the bodies recovered from the home were badly burned and none have been positively identified.

Pardo's ex-wife, Silvia Ortega, 43, and her parents, Joseph Ortega, 80, and his wife Alicia, 70, were believed to be among the dead.

Police suspect Pardo carried out the massacre as an act of revenge against his ex-wife after their divorce. Pardo had no criminal record and no history of violence, according to police.

"It was not an amicable divorce," police Lt. Pat Buchanan said. (ANI)