According to police who apprehended Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, the man who went to his former in-laws house dressed as Santa Claus, opened fire on a Christmas Eve gathering and then set the house ablaze killing nine people before fleeing, was found with $17,000 in cash and a plane ticket to Canada.

The Police Chief Kim Raney talking at a news conference, informed the media that the gunman the police chief said the gunman, after suffering third-degree burns to both arms, instead drove to his brother's house in Sylmar 40-miles away, and decided to take his own life by shooting himself in the head.

Investigators discovering a résumé belonging to Pardo, say it indicated that despite a master's in electrical engineering, he was unemployed, though the veracity of the résumé could not be vouched for. Just a week before the shooting, Pardo and his wife had managed to finalize a contentious divorce.

Among the dead or missing are James and Alicia Ortega, the elderly owners of the burnt down house and their daughter Sylvia, Pardo's former wife. After investigators finish searching the charred structure, dental records will be used to identify the remains.

The Ortegas, who retired from their spray painting business, were in the habit of inviting their large extended family for parties, particularly round Xmas time. Relatives say there were 25-people in side the house, many of them children, when Pardo's knock came at around 11:30 p. m.

When a guest opened the door, Pardo entered and taking out a semi-automatic handgun, immediately began to shoot, beginning with an 8-year old girl (who has survived the shot in the face), including another girl shot in the back. As a barrage of gunfire was unleashed, people smashed windows to escape, hid behind furniture or ran upstairs. A woman leaping from a second floor window, escaped with her life, though at the cost of a broken ankle. After the shooting, Pardo sprayed the room with jet fuel, setting the house ablaze in seconds.

Police officers say, they find it difficult to recall a crime as horrific as this one in Covina . Pat Bower, a neighbour who knew the Ortegas for 25-years, says they were known for their generosity and family spirit. The envy of all, the family was always together, with brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles always in the house, one gigantic family.

Pardo's neighbors talking to media, as police searched his home, said he was '. very nice, very sociable,' always decorating his home for the holidays. Patrick Guzman, who encountered Pardo in his yard two hours before the attack, said he seemed normal, to the extent of wishing him 'Merry Christmas'. Police have recovered eight bodies, so far.