A ninth body was found Friday morning at the scene of a Christmas Eve shooting in Covina of East Los Angeles, police said.

The shooting occurred Wednesday night when a distraught man, dressed as Santa Claus, arrived at his ex-wife's Christmas Eve party, then opened fire on the participants and burned down the two-story house, police said.

After the attack, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, shot himself to death at his brother's home early in the morning on Christmas Day in Sylmar, a suburb about 50 kilometers north of downtown Los Angeles, according to police.

Believed to have been killed in the shooting and fire were Pardo's ex-wife, Sylvia Ortega, 43 and her parents, police said but did not provide any more details.

The Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed that a total of nine victims have been found at the scene.

There were 25 guests at the party and nine had been unaccounted for immediately after the shooting.

Pardo, who was reportedly estranged from his wife and in a messy divorce, used cocktails to set the house on fire, according to local television reports.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2008)