Las Vegas mass murderer Stephen Paddock was an unfriendly, reclusive ‘weirdo’ who barely spoke to his Reno neighbors and kept a sinister-looking giant safe in his garage, locals have claimed.
Paddock, 64, and girlfriend Marilou Danley, 62, lived next door to Susan Page, 68, in Verdi, Reno until August, when they mysteriously packed up and vanished.
Who Paddock was and what was in his fridge-sized safe was the talk of the otherwise sleepy Nevada street until Sunday, when he murdered 58 people and injured 527 more in Las Vegas with his arsenal of 23 guns.
‘I barely slept last night thinking about this evil man living next door with a house full of guns,’ Page told The Sun.
‘It could have been any of us he unleashed this horror on. It’s just too much to even think about.’
Stephen Paddock (seen left in DMV photo) and girlfriend Marilou Danley (right) lived in one of his properties in near Reno until August. Paddock killed 58 people in Las Vegas on Sunday
The pair occupied this home in Verdi, but neighbors said they had barely any furniture and rarely opened their windows – and for some reason Paddock had a massive safe in his garage
On Monday this bomb squad arrived to check the home for booby traps ahead of a search by the FBI and ATF. A large black box was seized, as well as some of Paddock’s 47 guns
Paddock, who made his money in real estate, bought the home, in the Del Webb Sierra Canyon retirement community, in 2012 shortly after it was built, according to public records.
But Page said that despite having the house for five years, the multimillionaire was practically a stranger to his neighborhood.
‘They had barely any furniture in the house and nothing in the yard, the shades were always down and it was like they were not even living there,’ she said.
Others who lived next to a property he owned in Florida told CNN he would flit around from place to place, and admitted that he spent most of his time indoors playing online poker.
Paddock certainly seemed less open with his Reno neighbors; Page describes him as ‘a reclusive weirdo’ and says she ‘never once got as much as a smile out of him.’
‘I never heard music, conversation and never once saw them have friends over.
‘He would keep his face down, avoid all conversation and was just very unfriendly and strange.’
A photo leaked Tuesday showed Paddock’s body after he committed suicide in the hotel room he’d fired on civilians from. There also appears to be a letter on the table (in red circle), although police haven’t announced finding a suicide note
Paddock fired on 22,000 people at a nearby music festival with 23 guns. Magazines can be seen stacked on the right. His Verdi neighbors are concerned that his safe held these guns
Another neighbor, who did not want to be named, agreed, saying: ‘Occasionally he would work out early in the morning at the community gym, but never ever does anyone here remember him having a friendly word to say to anyone.’
Unable to talk to him, his neighbors instead began to talk about him – and particularly about the safe in his garage.
‘We would all wonder what on earth he kept in there, but nobody could ever ask as he was not the kind of man who engaged with anyone,’ said the unidentified neighbor.
‘It was as big as a refrigerator,’ Page recalled. ‘We would all joke and say, “I wonder how much money he has stashed in there?”
‘Now we are all horrified thinking maybe it wasn’t money in there at all – but the guns he used to kill these poor people.’
Paddock (seen with Danley) was unfriendly, locals said. He never had music on or friends over, or engaged neighbors in conversation
In total, police have found 47 guns across three locations – the house in Verdi, a second home in Mesquite, and the hotel room that Paddock used to fire on civilians.
The firearms were rifles, shotguns and handguns purchased in Nevada, Texas, Utah and California – all legally, over the course of more than 20 years.
Some 12 of the rifles found in the hotel room had been modified with legally available bump-stocks, which allow semi-automatic rifles to mimic full-auto guns, firing up to 800 rounds a minute.
Those weapons were found on Monday only after ATF, FBI and SWAT teams arrived at the home along with bomb disposal experts and robots to check for booby traps.
Page’s home was evacuated along with others on the street. When she was allowed to return home, she said, she saw something unusual.
‘At some point after I was allowed to return home I saw them carrying a huge black box out of the house and loading it into the van,’ she explained.
‘It looked very much like an ammunition box to me.
‘It is just terrifying to think what was going on next door to my home without any of us having any idea.’
Both Paddock and Danley disappeared from the home within a couple of weeks in August, Page said.
Mourners are seen here struggling to keep their emotions in check as they attend a vigil for the victims at the University of Nevada Las Vegas on Tuesday night
With the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in the background, a billboard advertising an upcoming gun show is seen along the Las Vegas Strip on Tuesday
‘I remember at the start of August looking out of my window and seeing Stephen pull up in a brand new huge silver minivan,’ she explained.
‘But just a few days later he left the house in it and was never seen again.’
She continued: ‘I thought the whole situation was even weirder when two weeks later I then look out of my window again to see Marilou stuffing her car full of all her belongings.
‘Over the course of three or four days it was like she was moving her entire life out of the house. She packed so much stuff not only was her car full, but it was also tied to the top of her car.
‘After a few days of packing she too pulled out of the driveway and was never seen again.
‘It was all very strange.’