The family of a man that was killed in the Las Vegas shooting is suing the shooter’s estate.
Victim John Phippen’s family filed a suit Friday aimed at freezing gunman Stephen Paddock’s assets. Phippen, 56, was one of 58 people that were killed during the assault. The family attorney says he expects other victim’s families to join their suit.
The lawsuit is aimed at preventing Paddock’s brother Eric and girlfriend Marilou Danley from accessing his estate. Paddock was a successful gambler, raking in $5million in 2015 according to NBC News.
Gunman Stephen Paddock (left) shot and killed 58 people including John Phippen (right). Phippen’s family is suing Paddock’s estate and expects other victims’ families to join in the suit
John with his family including his son Travis Phippen (in grey, second from right) who was also shot. Travis survived after watching his father die. He still has a bullet in his arm
This photo combination shows some of the victims of the mass shooting that occurred at a country music festival in Las Vegas on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017. Top row from left are: Hannah Ahlers, Heather Warino Alvarado, Carrie Barnette, Steven Berger, Candice Bowers, Denise Burditus, Sandy Casey, Andrea Castilla and Denise Cohen. Second row from left are: Austin Davis, Tom Day Jr., Christiana Duarte, Stacee Etcheber, Brian Fraser, Keri Lynn Galvan, Dana Gardner, Angie Gomez and Rocio Guillen. Third row from left are: Charleston Hartfield, Jennifer Topaz Irvine, Nicol Kimura, Jessica Klymchuk, Rhonda LeRocque, Kelsey Meadows, Calla Medig, Sonny Melton and Pati Mestas. Fourth row from left are: Adrian Murfitt, Rachael Parker, Carrie Parsons, Lisa Patterson, John Phippen, Melissa Ramirez, Jordyn Rivera, Quinton Robbins and Cameron Robinson. Bottom row from left are: Lisa Romero-Muniz, Christopher Roybal, Bailey Schweitzer, Laura Shipp, Erick Silva, Brennan Stewart, Derrick Taylor, Michelle Vo an
‘This is an action for the benefit of all the victims to preserve these assets,’ said the Phippens’ attorney, Richard Patterson to NBC LA.
‘We have filed a petition with the district court in Nevada, requesting that the court appoint a public administrator of the state of Nevada to take control of his assets,’ Patterson said.
‘It is for the benefit of everyone. It will preserve the assets subject to the court’s direction and future distribution,’ he added to ABC LA.
The shooter is not the only one they will hold responsible, says Patterson. He is aiming to include the hotel as well. He says he is looking into how many exits were at the venue, and that it took too long to get people out.
‘Objecting this to make change happen. To make these concerts, make the hotels more responsible and diligent in preventing these sorts of things,’ Patterson said.
Travis (in sling) walks to court to file a suit against Paddock’s estate to freeze his assets
Travis and his father John at the Route 91 Harvest Festival before Paddock shot and killed John and injured Travis
The fence (far right) was trampled on as people ran to escape the barrage of bullets. The Phippen family attorney says there were not enough exits
Phippen was killed when he was shielding a young woman from the gunfire.
His son Travis was with him and watched him die. Travis still has a bullet in his arm, and was wearing a sling as he walked to court to file the suit with his family attorney.
The gunman, 64-year-old Paddock, opened fire during the Route 91 Harvest Festival while he was on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.
Law enforcement Friday said they are ‘confident’ Paddock carried out the Mandalay Bay massacre from his hotel room alone.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said on Friday that investigators are sure no one else was in the room before he shot dead 58 and injured almost 500 on Sunday.
Earlier, NBC News had reported a mysterious charger that did not mach any of Paddock’s cellpones – raising the possibility that another person had been with Paddock beforehand.
However, later police said that they have now matched all the cell phones and all the chargers and that they belong to Paddock.
‘We’re very confident there was not another shooter in that room,’ said McMahill during a press conference in Las Vegas on Friday afternoon.
‘What we cannot confirm is whether anybody else knew about this incident before he carried it out.’
Police are still looking into whether gunman Stephen Paddock (above with girlfriend Marilou Danley in 2013) had an accomplice who helped him plot his attack or knew about it
This comes as local and federal officials announced they are erecting billboards around the city appealing to the public to come forward with information about the shooting.
The billboards will have the message ‘If you know something, say something’ and investigators hope this will help generate leads for the case which has so far left law enforcement struggling to find a motive.
‘There are still a number of people out there that know that something looked out of place,’ said McMahill.
‘Someone may have been acting suspiciously that night, or in the years prior, the months prior. Someone that may have seen something or knows something.’
The FBI’s special agent in charge in Las Vegas said that the idea is to reach ‘as many people as we possibly can’ and that they will not stop until ‘they have the truth’.