Stephen Paddock, the man behind America’s worst ever mass shooting, was prescribed Valium months before the massacre
Las Vegas killer Stephen Paddock was prescribed an anti-anxiety medication four months before shooting 58 people dead and wounding more than 500.
Paddock was prescribed 50 10 milligram diazepam tablets – also known as Valium – on June 21 by Vegas doctor Steven Winkler, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
Diazepam is a sedative-hypnotic drug that can trigger aggressive behavior in people with underlying behavioral problems, multiple studies have shown.
It is not known why Paddock was prescribed the drug, or whether he had any behavioral issues.
Multiple people who knew him, including his own brother Eric, say he displayed no outward signs of aggression and did not appear as the kind of person who would carry out a mass shooting.
Staff at Dr Winkler’s office would not confirm to the Review-Journal if Paddock had been a patient, and said the doctor would not be answering questions.
One study conducted in Finland, and another in Australia and New Zealand, linked the use of benzodiazepines – the class of drugs to which diazepam belongs – to increased instances of aggressive behavior.
Paddock’s drug use was revealed as Starbucks workers described how he would be rude to girlfriend Marilou Danley (left and right) whenever the pair came into the shop
On Sunday Paddock used a vantage point from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel to slaughter 58 people and wound more than 500 using high-powered rifles
Paddock’s medical history was revealed as more information emerged about America’s worst-ever mass shooter.
On Tuesday investigators said he wired $100,000 to the Philippines before carrying out his massacre, the same country that girlfriend Marilou Danley was visiting at the time of the killings and where she is believed to have been born.
FBI agents met Danley as she arrived back in the US from Manila on Tuesday and said she is a ‘person of interest’ in their investigation.
Investigators have not revealed where or to whom the $100,000 was sent.
Elsewhere workers at a Starbucks in the town of Mesquite, where the couple lived, shed some light on their relationship – saying that Paddock was always rude to Danley whenever the pair came to the shop.
Mendoza said the abuse came when Danley would ask to use his casino card to purchase their drinks.
Images from inside the hotel show Paddock’s body (left) alongside what appears to be a note and several of the rifles he used to carry out his sick rampage
‘He would glare down at her and say, “You don’t need my casino card for this. I’m paying for your drink, just like I’m paying for you,'” Mendoza recalled.
She told the Los Angeles Times that Danley would then cower behind him and softly say, ‘OK’.
Meanwhile a former neighbor of Paddock’s from his time living in Reno described him as a reclusive ‘weirdo’ who barely spoke to anyone else on the street.
‘He would keep his face down, avoid all conversation and was just very unfriendly and strange,’ Susan Page told The Sun.
Paddock opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival from a suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel on Sunday night with multiple rifles, some of which had been modified to effectively fire on full-automatic mode.
During an estimated 72 minute shooting spree he killed 58 people and wounded 527 in America’s worst ever mass shooting.
Paddock then took his own life as police breached the door of his hotel room.
Officers say they found 23 guns inside the room, most of them rifles, along with thousands of rounds of ammunition.
At Paddock’s home in nearby Mesquite they found another 19 weapons, along with explosive tannerite and fertilizer which can be used to make bombs.
Investigators have been unable to determine a motive for the attack, and the FBI says there is no evidence linking Paddock to any foreign terror organization despite ISIS claiming responsibility for the attack.