A man dressed as Santa Claus showed up at a Christmas Eve party at a suburban Los Angeles house and opened fire with a handgun, killing three people and wounding two, police said on Thursday.

The only suspect in Wednesday night's shooting in Covina, California, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, later committed suicide and his body was found at a relative's house in nearby Sylmar, police said.

"He died of self-inflicted wounds. We believe it was a marital dispute," said Lt. Pat Buchanan of the Covina Police Department.

The house caught fire during the shooting and was engulfed in flames when police arrived.

The two people wounded by gunfire included an 8-year-old girl and both were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, Buchanan said. A third person was hospitalized with a broken leg, he said.

Police have not identified the dead yet, Buchanan said.

Witnesses among the 30 people attending the party told police that Pardo stripped off his Santa costume after the shooting and fled in street clothes.