The frugal life of twisted mass killer Stephen Paddock is beginning to emerge.
DailyMailTV has learned that the multi-millionaire former accountant was so concerned about saving money that he often ate lunch at a retirees’ center.
The 64-year-old joined the frail, elderly, homeless and disabled at the Mesquite Community and Senior Center in Nevada paying just $3.50 for a subsidized lunch.
Around three times a week Paddock enjoyed Mexican food, meatloaf and hamburgers while listening to cheery songs on the piano at the center.
And bizarrely on the day Paddock drove 80 miles to Las Vegas where he checked in to the Mandalay Bay hotel to begin the preparations for his death mission, he popped into the government-run center to ask the cook for an enchiladas recipe.
Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock was a regular at a Mesquite, Nevada, senior center where he visited up to three times a week so that he could eat a $3.50 subsidized lunch, DailyMailTV has exclusively learned
Although Paddock was a multi-millionaire, he ate the cheap lunches at the Mesquite Community and Senior Center, where they served Mexican food, meatloaf and hamburgers
Regulars at the senior center said Paddock popped into the government-run center on Thursday to ask the cook for her enchiladas recipe before driving to Las Vegas and checking into the Mandalay Bay hotel
Local resident Marshall Meland, 78, who was enjoying lunch at the center, told DailyMailTV: ‘We recognized Stephen when his face flashed up on TV.
‘He last came in to the center around 11am last Thursday and checked in at the desk, but didn’t stop for lunch like he usually does.
‘Instead he went straight up to the counter to speak with the cook and asked her about an enchiladas dish she cooks, he wanted to know how she made it.
‘After that he left. No one took any notice of him, it wasn’t until later after what he did that we realized he drove to Vegas that afternoon. Everyone at the center is shocked.’
Other diners at the senior center recall Paddock as an ‘unsociable’ and ‘quiet’ man who liked to sit alone to eat his lunch and who was ‘in a world of his own’.
Retired construction worker David Blake, 81, who has been coming to the center for 13 years, described him as an ‘introverted’ man who had little time for anyone.
Mr Blake said: ‘He’d come in on and off, sometimes up to three times a week.
‘He’s been coming in at least a year and when I first saw him I thought he was a homeless person, he was unshaven, disheveled, quiet, he wasn’t a big conversationalist.
‘He’d sit on his own, but even if there was someone else on his table he always seemed to himself, I never saw him getting into steady conversations with anyone, he didn’t mingle, he was just quiet.
‘He didn’t draw attention to himself, didn’t cause a disturbance.’
Diners at the center said Paddock often kept to himself, never engaging in conversation. They also said they never saw his girlfriend Marilou Danley with him (the couple pictured together)
A source said: ‘He’s been coming in at least a year and when I first saw him I thought he was a homeless person, he was unshaven, disheveled, quiet, he wasn’t a big conversationalist’
Regulars David Blake and Marshall Meland (pictured outside the center) said that Paddock stood out because he was one of the few diners who never socialized with others there
Although Paddock’s behavior was odd, Mr Blake says in a gambling town like Mesquite, it is common.
‘A lot of people who heavily gamble are like that, they’re in a world of their own,’ he explained. ‘They don’t get a chance to have much of a social life.
‘Stephen didn’t seem to me like he was in to anything else other than deep thinking of how he was going to play his next poker game.’
Mr Blake says Paddock’s behavior stood out because a lot of people who come to the center want to socialize and take part in the many fun activities it offers.
The center plays music, has sock hops, seasonal parties and offers group games as well as jig saw puzzles. It also has a library.
Although Paddock had a girlfriend, Marilou Danley, he was only seen at the center alone and didn’t join in.
It appears he was only interested in the cheap food.
‘The last time he came in was Thursday, he came in to ask one the cooks about her enchiladas,’ said Mr Blake, who lives in Mesquite.
‘They serve a big variety of hot food here, I saw him eating Mexican food and hamburgers, they also make meatloaf and lasagna. I once helped serve carrot cake and recall giving Stephen some.
‘It used to be $2.50 a meal, but then it went up to $3.50. It’s sad that Stephen never wanted to talk with anyone, maybe I should have made a bigger effort, I could have made a connection with him.
‘If a person doesn’t have any kind of social life, is concentrating on his guns and gambling, inspired by that, it’s a totally negative thing.
‘I just know from seeing him in here that he’s not that much different from other people who are deep into gambling, they don’t want to be bothered, they are in deep concentration.’
On Sunday night, Paddock slaughtered 58 people and injured 489 when he opened fire at a country music festival on the Las Vegas strip
Paddock fired on 22,000 people at a country music festival with 23 guns. Magazines can be seen stacked in the room. His Verdi neighbors are concerned that his safe held these guns
DailyMail.com spoke to staff at the center who confirmed Paddock was known but declined to comment based on the advice of the Mesquite City department that runs the facility.
The cook Paddock spoke to on Thursday also declined to comment for the same reason.
Mr Blake, who is well-known in Mesquite for owning a large converted armored car, added that Paddock never once asked him about the unusual vehicle which he parks outside the senior center.
He said: ‘It surprised me that he didn’t come to ask me about my armored car, which to a lot of people is a very unique vehicle and they want to ask all kinds of questions, but Stephen never even came one time to show any interest in it, which surprised me because people all over the city, almost every day, different places I go to, say they really love the vehicle.
‘I never got a word from him, he wasn’t friendly that way at all, he was very introverted.’
Mr Blake said others who know Paddock in Mesquite says he lived a pretty mundane every day life.
He was known to do his shopping at Walmart, to drink Starbucks coffee, order take out Domino’s Pizza and enjoyed playing the slots at the Virgin River casino in town.
Paddock is said to have enjoyed playing the slots at the Virgin River casino (left) in town and was a regular guest at his local Starbucks (right)
Although he was frugal with his lunch money, Paddock was so hooked on gambling that he played up to 1,000 hands of video poker in a single hour – at a cost of $100,000
He generally sought privacy and kept a low profile. Some of his neighbors rarely saw him, all they knew was that he gambled professionally.
Mr Blake says everyone in the center was shocked to hear about what Paddock did and its left them feeling ‘uneasy’ and ‘fearful’.
He added: ‘People are saying: “gosh if we knew somebody like this was in here we’re not even sure we’d have come here all the time”, because they think he could have shot and killed all of us in no time.
‘I hear that quite often ever since it happened, people are fearful about what’s going on with people like him, it’s hard for them to believe that someone could go and fire on thousands of people like that who are having a good time.’
Paddock committed suicide Sunday night after police closed in on him following his shooting spree that claimed 58 lives and left 489 other injured.
He opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel on the Route 91 Harvest music festival attended by 22,000 people.
Investigators are still trying to establish a motive for the deadly attack – the worst in US history.
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