Investigators have met the brother of the Las Vegas gunman as friends and relatives of the 58 killed and other concert-goers returned to the scene to reclaim shoes, phones and bags left behind in the panic as they fled.
The interviews with Stephen Paddock’s brother were part of an exhaustive search through the 64-year-old’s life in search of clues about why he unleashed gunfire from broken windows on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel casino.
Eric Paddock declined to say what he was asked, but he said he is co-operating with investigators, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Crosses erected in honour of those killed during the mass shooting (Gregory Bull/AP)
“I’m trying to get them to understand Steve’s mindset,” Eric Paddock told the newspaper. “I don’t want them to chase bad leads.”
In a newly revealed court document obtained by CNN, Stephen Paddock described himself as a nocturnal creature who bet up to 1 million dollars each night at Las Vegas casinos in flip-flops and tracksuits, catching sleep in the day.
The description of his lifestyle comes from a deposition filed as part of a civil lawsuit he filed against Cosmopolitan Hotel, where he slipped and fell in 2011.
The festival grounds
The personal effects being recovered were strewn across the massive grassy concert venue where 22,000 country music fans attended the Route 91 Harvest festival. They have become sentimental memories of loved ones for some, and haunting reminders of the night of terror for others.
Some of the victims of the deadliest shooting in modern US history have already been returned home for funerals while many others are en route ahead of services planned for later dates.
Eric Paddock said he came to Las Vegas to retrieve his brother’s body in hopes of sending the cremated ashes to their 89-year-old mother in Orlando.
A broke window at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino from where Stephen Paddock killed 58 people (John Locher/AP)
Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said he could not discuss the results of a post-mortem done on Stephen Paddock, who police said shot himself dead before officers arrived at the Las Vegas Strip hotel suite.
Eric Paddock told the Review-Journal that he plans to put his brother’s assets in a trust that would benefit the shooting victims. He has described his brother as a multimillionaire who considered himself a professional gambler and owned real estate.
The family of one of the victims, 56-year-old John Phippen, of Santa Clarita, California, has already asked a Nevada judge to appoint a special administrator to take control of the gunman’s assets. The lawyers said that is a necessary step to allow lawsuits to be brought against Paddock’s estate.
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