'Santa' Gunman Hid Son From Ex-Wife: Cops

(NEWSER) - The California man who murdered his ex-wife and eight members of her family on Christmas Eve while dressed as Santa Claus had cocaine in his system, the Los Angeles Times reports. The coroner’s office said the cocaine was present in trace amounts and was only a contributing factor to Bruce Jeffrey Pardo’s rampage. After committing the murders and setting the house where they took place ablaze, Pardo took his own life. More»

Death toll at 9 after another body is found in ashes of Calif. home

(NEWSER) - The discovery of another body in the charred wreckage of a California home brings the death toll in the Christmas Eve shooting rampage to nine, ABC News reports. Police say Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, suspected of shooting his former in-laws while disguised as Santa, had $10,000 in cash and a plane ticket out of the country on him when he committed suicide at his brother’s house yesterday. More»

Classmates say school shooter was shy but never seemed strange

(NEWSER) - The 17-year-old who calmly gunned down his former classmates and teachers in Germany this week before taking his own life seemed like a normal teenager, Der Spiegel reports. Tim Kretschmer was inconspicuous and shy, schoolmates say, but he wasn't a loner and wasn't considered strange. Police say they have searched in vain for a farewell letter explaining the shooting spree that killed 15. More»

(AP) - Authorities say the Alabama gunman who killed 10 people and himself in a rampage yesterday had once trained as a police officer. Michael McLendon, 28, briefly went through officer training in 2003, but didn't complete the requirements to join the force. Investigators still aren't sure what led McLendon to go on the shooting spree in south Alabama. "He cleaned his family out," said one official. More»

13 kids were orphaned by Pardo's rampage on Christmas Eve

(NEWSER) - The man who carried out a Christmas Eve killing spree dressed as Santa Claus had planned to kill his own mother, the Los Angeles Times reports. Bruce Jeffrey Pardo was furious with his mom for siding with his ex-wife in their bitter marital dispute and knew she was invited to the California holiday party he peppered with bullets. She didn't attend because she had the flu. More»