The gunman responsible for the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history was the son of a bank robber once on the FBI’s most wanted list, according to his family who said his involvement had struck them like an “asteroid”.
Stephen Paddock, 64, was named by police as the gunman who massacred at least 58 people and wounded more than 515 after opening fire on a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip from a 32nd-floor hotel room on Sunday.
Brother Eric Paddock, speaking to CBS News, said he was “not an avid gun guy at all” with “no religious affiliation, no political affiliation”, or history of mental illness.
“We have no idea how this happened,” the 55-year-old who lives in Orlando, Florida, added to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “It’s like an asteroid just fell on top of our family.”
He described his brother as a gambler who played slot machines and video poker on the Strip while living in retirement.
The brother also said that their father was bank robber Benjamin Hoskins Paddock who was on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list until 1977.
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Described as an avid gambler, he spent nearly a decade as a fugitive after springing from a Texan prison in 1968, the Arizona Republic reported at the time.
An FBI poster described him as a “psychopath” who should be treated as “armed and very dangerous”.
Stephen Paddock lived in Mesquite, Nevada, 80 miles north east of Las Vegas, with 62-year-old Marilou Danley who had been his partner.
Deadliest mass shootings in US history
Guns and ammunition were found in a search of Paddock’s “nice, clean” home, a Mesquite Police spokesman said.
Paddock is believed to have killed himself before a police Swat team burst into his room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, where at least 10 “rifles” were found, Clark County sheriff Joseph Lombardo said.
“We have no investigative information or background associated with this individual that is derogatory,” he added.
Mandalay Bay
The motive for the attack on the Route 91 Harvest Festival remains unclear, with FBI Special Agent Aaron Rouse saying Paddock had no connection to an international terrorist organisation.
His comment came after the Islamic State terror group, which is known to have made false and exaggerated claims in the past, stated Paddock was a “soldier” who had recently converted to Islam.
Paddock’s former brother-in-law Scott Brunoehler also expressed his shock at his involvement, describing him as a fun-loving and smart guy.
“He seemed like a normal, good guy. I don’t remember anything bad back then at all,” the 62-year-old told the Los Angeles Times of the man married to his sister until the 1980s.
“I’m still in shock.”
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