COVINA (California) - A man who carried out a Christmas Eve massacre and arson dressed as Santa at the home of his former in-laws apparently intended to flee the United States, but his plans were dashed after the inferno he created severely burned his arms and melted his red costume onto his body, police said on Friday.

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, a laid-off aerospace worker, apparently shot some of his nine victims execution-style in a plot to destroy his ex-wife's family after a costly divorce that was finalised last week. He had airline tickets to Canada and US$17,000 (S$24,600) in cash on his body, some attached to his legs with plastic wrap and some in a girdle, Covina police Chief Kim Raney said.

911 call: Woman describes Santa assailant at home COVINA (California) - A SURVIVOR of a horrific shooting at a Christmas Eve party in the US frantically begged an emergency dispatcher for help as she hid in a neighbor's house, her daughter wailing in the background with a gunshot wound to the face, according to a 911 tape released by police on Friday. 'He's still shooting out there,' the woman sobbed, describing how her ex-brother-in-law was armed and dressed in a Santa suit. ... more

Armed with four guns, wearing the Santa suit and carrying a fuel-spraying device wrapped like a present, Pardo showed up at the home at 1130pm on Wednesday as a party of about 25 people was under way.

Chief Raney said Pardo, 45, fired a shot into the face of an 8-year-old girl who answered the door and at first fired indiscriminately, then apparently targeted relatives of his ex-wife as other guests fled.

'There's some information that he stood over them and shot them execution-style,' chief Raney said.

Pardo retreated to the front door and retrieved a device that mixed carbon dioxide or oxygen with high-octane racing fuel, police said. Fleeing guests saw him spraying the fuel inside the house when the vapour was ignited, possibly by a pilot light or a candle, and exploded.

'Mr Pardo was severely injured during that explosion,' the police chief said. 'He suffered third-degree burns on both arms and it also appears that the Santa Claus suit that he was wearing did melt onto his body.'

Pardo was able to drive to his brother's home in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles, broke in and shot himself in the head. His brother discovered the body early on Thursday.

Before the suicide, Pardo used remnants of the Santa suit to booby-trap his rental car to explode, the chief said.

Chief Raney said Pardo wired the suit so that when it was lifted it 'would pull a trip wire or a switch, ignite a flare inside the car that would then ignite black powder and he had several hundred rounds of handgun ammunition inside the car'. The device went off as detectives worked to disarm it on Thursday but no one was hurt.

Police said Pardo had no criminal record or history of violence, and neighbours and others knew him as a friendly man who walked his dog and was a volunteer usher at his parish church.

The fire was so intense that no bodies have been identified because of charring, but police Lieutenant Tim Doonan said all were Pardo's former relatives. He declined to say whether his ex-wife and her parents were among them, but said they were unaccounted for.

Los Angeles County-USC Medical Centre spokesman Adelaida De La Cerda said the 8-year-old girl who was shot in the face was released from the hospital on Friday. Her mother had been at the hospital and was 'extremely traumatised,' Ms De La Cerda said.

Her cousin, a 16-year-old girl brought in for observation, had superficial injuries and was released on Thursday. The teenager's mother was Bruce Pardo's ex-wife, Ms De La Cerda said. Also injured was a woman who broke her ankle when jumping from a second-story window.

Mr David Salgado, a neighbour, said he saw the 8-year-old victim being escorted to an ambulance by four SWAT officers as fire devoured the house. He identified the owners of the home as Ms Sylvia Pardo's parents, Joseph and Alicia Ortega.

'It was really ugly,' Mr Salgado said.

When the fire was extinguished early on Thursday, officers found three charred bodies in the living room area. Investigators found five more bodies amid the ashes later in the day. Coroner's Lieutenant Larry Dietz said a ninth body was found on Friday morning.

Police found two handguns at the home of Pardo's brother, and two more in the Covina home. All were empty.

A search of Pardo's own home in Montrose, a suburb north-east of Los Angeles, turned up racing fuel, five empty boxes for high-powered semiautomatic handguns and two high-powered shotguns.

Court records show Pardo's ex-wife Sylvia Pardo, 43, filed for a dissolution of marriage on March 24, 2008, and they were legally separated after about two years of marriage. The two reached a settlement on Dec 18.

Bruce Pardo owed her US$10,000 as part of the settlement, according to court documents that detailed a bitter split. He also lost a dog he doted on and did not get back a valuable wedding ring.

'No counselling or delay could help restore this marriage,' the settlement stated. 'There are irreconcilable differences which have led to the complete breakdown of the marriage.'

Bruce Pardo had been employed at ITT Electronic Systems, Radar Systems, in Van Nuys from February 2005 to July 2008, according to court documents. He worked as an engineer at Northrop Grumman for five months in 2005, said spokesman Tom Henson, who did not know if Pardo was a regular employee or contractor there.

Pardo wrote in a legal declaration that he was laid off in July and had been denied state unemployment payments in August. He said he was 'desperately seeking' work with many companies. He complained in a court declaration that Ms Sylvia Pardo was living with her parents, not paying rent, and had spent lavishly on a luxury car, gambling trips to Las Vegas, meals at fine restaurants, massages and golf lessons.

Documents from the divorce show Bruce Pardo got their house, which was valued at more than a half-million dollars, but the couple only had US$106,000 in equity in it. The mortgage was US$2,700 a month, a declaration said.

He complained in a filing that he had monthly expenses of US$8,900 and ran a monthly deficit of US$2,678.

In June, the court ordered him to pay US$1,785 a month in spousal support and put him on a payment plan of US$450 a month for US$3,570 that was unpaid.

His attorney, Mr Stanley Silver, told The Associated Press his client had trouble making the support payments after he lost his job in July, but spousal support was waived in the settlement last week.

Bruce Pardo was trying to pay US$10,000 to finalise the divorce proceedings, Mr Silver said, and he never showed any anger or instability.

'All of my dealings with him were always pleasant and cheerful,' said Mr Silver, who heard from him last on Tuesday.

Friends and neighbours described Bruce Pardo as a cheerful man who seemed upbeat and doted on a big, brown Akita he owned with his former wife. He stood more than 6 feet (1.8 metres) tall and was always gentle and kind, said Ms Jan Detanna, head usher at the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Montrose, where Pardo volunteered.

Ms Detanna said Pardo signed up to usher during the Christmas Eve service and always volunteered as an usher at the 5.30pm Sunday service - the children's Mass. -- AP