Covina police name victims in Christmas Eve massacre
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.
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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