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Stephen Paddock, Las Vegas Suspect, Was a Gambler Who Drew Little Attention Stephen Paddock, Las Vegas Suspect, Was a Gambler Who Drew Little Attention
(35 minutes later)
The man who checked into a Las Vegas hotel and massacred dozens of concertgoers with a vicious deluge of bullets late Sunday lived in a quiet retirement community in Mesquite, Nev., about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, the police said. Relatives and neighbors said he and his companion drew little attention. He was a high-stakes gambler recognized in the casinos of Nevada. He dabbled in real estate investments in Texas. His last known full-time employment was 30 years ago. He was twice divorced. He had a pilot’s license and had owned two single-engine planes.
The gunman, identified by the police as Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, was described as a retiree who loved to gamble and who lived with his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, 62. While his motive for the mass shooting outside a Las Vegas casino on Sunday night is unknown, Stephen Paddock’s life was unmoored and highly unconventional.
Relatives said Mr. Paddock had not displayed strong political or ideological beliefs in their interactions with him. From his neighbors in a quiet retirement community in Mesquite, Nev., he drew little attention, unless it was for his extreme propensity to keep to himself. He displayed no strong religious or political views, his relatives said, and was not known for angry outbursts.
That modest portrait of Mr. Paddock was upended shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday when, according to the police, he opened fire on fans attending an outdoor country music concert near the Mandalay Bay Resort on the Las Vegas Strip, killing nearly 60 people and injuring at least 500 others. But he was the son of a bank robber who ultimately escaped from prison and spent most of the 1970s on the F.B.I.’s most wanted list. His girlfriend, sought for questioning by law enforcement officials after the shooting, has been in Tokyo.
Mr. Paddock was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot in his room on the 32nd floor of the hotel, said Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. Details about Mr. Paddock’s career and livelihood were sparse, aside from observations by neighbors and family members that he routinely gambled large amounts of money. “He was a gambler, that was his job,” his brother, Eric Paddock, told reporters Monday at his home in Orlando. “He was a wealthy guy, playing video poker, who went cruising all the time and lived in a hotel room.”
Officials say 17 rifles were found in the hotel room, a law enforcement official confirmed, along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Two rifles with scopes were mounted on tripods and positioned in front of the two windows in the hotel room. Mr. Paddock and his three brothers were raised by their mother, who told the children that their father had died when in fact he was in prison, Eric Paddock said. Mr. Paddock’s father was convicted in 1961 of committing a series of bank robberies, and was sentenced to 20 years, but escaped from La Tuna federal prison in Texas in 1968 and then became a used car dealer and bingo parlor operator in Oregon.
Sheriff Lombardo described Mr. Paddock as “lone wolf” who had smashed the window of the hotel with a hammer-like device before starting to fire on the crowd. A “Wanted” poster for the elder Mr. Paddock warned that he was “diagnosed as psychopathic,” and “reportedly has suicidal tendencies,” and “should be considered armed and very dangerous.”
A motive for the horrific attack remained unclear. “I can’t get into the mind of a psychopath at this point,” Sheriff Lombardo said. The children’s mother was left to raise the family on her own. They moved around the country, from Iowa to Tucson to Southern California, another brother, Patrick Paddock II, said. Stephen Paddock’s behavior did not offer any indication of violent tendencies, the brother said.
“It wasn’t evident that he had weapons in his room,” the sheriff said. “It has been determined that he had employees going to and fro from his room, and nothing nefarious was noticed.” “He was the least violent in the family during my childhood. So, it’s kind of like, ‘Who?’” Comparing himself to his brother, he said, “I have much more anger.”
His brother, Eric Paddock, who lives in Orlando, said he and his family were “shocked, horrified” by the news, saying he was “not an avid gun guy.” The brother told CBS News that he knew Mr. Paddock had handguns, but that as far as he knew, Mr. Paddock did not own “machine guns.” Stephen Paddock attended college, his family said, and worked for a predecessor company to Lockheed Martin, the aerospace contracting company, from 1985 to 1988. Lockheed Martin confirmed his employment but did not identify the company for which Mr. Paddock worked.
“Where the hell did he get automatic weapons? He has no military background or anything like that,” the brother said. “When you find out about him, like I said, he’s a guy who lived in a house in Mesquite and drove down and gambled in Las Vegas.” Mr. Paddock once owned and managed a working-class apartment complex in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite, Tex., records show.
He said he last communicated with his brother when Stephen inquired about how the family had fared during Hurricane Irma, which struck Florida in September. A resident, Priscilla McBride, told The Dallas Morning News that Mr. Paddock often roamed the apartment property, casually talking to residents.
He moved away several years ago, she said, and they had not seen each other since. “I thought, it couldn’t be,” she said of the mass shooting. “You would have never thought he would be killing people. You just never know.”
Two of the gunman’s three brothers said they were not close to him, and the third could not be located. Patrick Paddock said he and his brother had not been in contact for as long as 20 years, and he did not initially recognize the face that flashed on his television screen. He wondered aloud about the motive behind the crime, and expressed profound distress for the victims.
“My anxiety is not a drop in the ocean compared to how I feel about the people who got killed,” he said.
Eric Paddock broke down in tears during an interview. “There’s nothing I can say. My brother did this. It’s like he shot us. I couldn’t be more dumbfounded,” he said. He said he last communicated with his brother when Stephen inquired about how the family had fared during Hurricane Irma, which struck Florida in September.
“He texted me to ask about my mom after the hurricane,” Eric Paddock told reporters. “He sent her a walker.”“He texted me to ask about my mom after the hurricane,” Eric Paddock told reporters. “He sent her a walker.”
Christopher Sullivan, general manager of Guns & Guitars, a gun store in Mesquite, confirmed that Mr. Paddock bought three guns at his shop within the last year — a handgun and two rifles. All the purchases were legal and cleared routine federal screening, Mr. Sullivan said. He said the situation has been very difficult for their 91-year-old mother, who “had to deal with her husband who was a bank robber, and now this.”
“The man does not have a criminal history,” he said of Mr. Paddock. Stephen Paddock, 64, lived with his current girlfriend, Marilou Danley, 62.
Mr. Sullivan, who said he had been contacted by the F.B.I. and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, declined to provide detailed descriptions of the guns Mr. Paddock bought. “We have cooperated with local and federal authorities,” he said. She worked as “high-limit hostess” at the Atlantis Casino in Reno, Nev. from 2010 to 2013, according to her LinkedIn account. On Monday, the casino said that she left the company several years ago. High-limit hostesses attend to members of a loyalty club called Club Paradise who spend large quantities of money and receive discounted hotel rooms, meals and other amenities, according to the casino’s website.
He described Mr. Paddock as seeming like “a normal fellow, a normal guy — nothing out of the ordinary,” who described himself as a “snowbird” because he spent half the year in northern Nevada. Mr. Paddock seemed to have no criminal history, according to records searches in places where he was known to have lived. The Mesquite Police Department said they had no interactions with the couple, including traffic stops.
“As for what goes on in a person’s mind, I couldn’t tell you,” Mr. Sullivan said. “I know nothing about him personally.” Few things seemed out of the ordinary Thursday when Mr. Paddock checked into a suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.
The Islamic State militant group claimed on Monday that Mr. Paddock was one of its soldiers, but did not provide any evidence to support its claim. The F.B.I. said there was no evidence so far that Mr. Paddock had ties to any international terrorist organization. But shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday night, from his window on the 32nd floor of the hotel, he unleashed a vicious deluge of bullets from an assault rifle and killed 59 people attending an outdoor country music concert nearby. More than 500 others were injured.
But Eric Paddock told reporters in Florida that his brother “had nothing to do with any political organization, religious organization, no white supremacist, nothing, as far as I know. And I’ve only known him for 57 years.” When police stormed his room shortly before midnight, Mr. Paddock lay dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He left behind 17 guns in the hotel room, including two rifles mounted on tripods, 18 guns in his house, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, broken windows, and a trail of questions by family members and neighbors who are struggling to make sense of his motive. His car remained parked with the hotel valet.
A spokesman for the Mesquite Police Department said there was nothing remarkable about Mr. Paddock’s home, in a cul-de-sac in a “fairly quiet” retirement community. Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department described Mr. Paddock as “lone wolf” whose intentions had gone unnoticed by hotel staff members who had gone in and out of his room without detecting the trove of weapons.
He described the area as “just a regular neighborhood” and added that nothing was “out of the ordinary” when police searched the home on Monday. The spokesman said some weapons and ammunition were found in the house but would not specify the type or quantity. “I can’t get into the mind of a psychopath at this point,” Sheriff Lombardo said.
The Mesquite Police Department said they had no interactions with the couple, including traffic stops. Eric Paddock said that Ms. Danley was his brother’s girlfriend and that he did not think that they were married. On Monday, local police had blocked off the entrance to Sun City, the retirement community where Mr. Paddock lived.
Ms. Danley worked as hostess at the Atlantis Casino in Reno, Nev. from 2010 to 2013, according to her LinkedIn Account. On Monday, the casino confirmed Ms. Danley’s employment and said that she left the company several years ago. Eric Paddock said he and his family were “shocked, horrified” by the news, saying he was “not an avid gun guy.” The brother told CBS News that he knew Mr. Paddock had handguns, but that as far as he knew, Mr. Paddock did not own machine guns.
Her LinkedIn account said that she worked as a “high limit hostess,” attending to members of a loyalty club called Club Paradise who spent large quantities of money and received discounted hotel rooms, meals and other amenities, according to the casino’s website. “Where the hell did he get automatic weapons? He has no military background or anything like that,” the brother said. “When you find out about him, like I said, he’s a guy who lived in a house in Mesquite and drove down and gambled in Las Vegas.”
Other details about Mr. Paddock’s life and hobbies have begun to emerge in the hours since the attack. Eric Paddock told reporters in Florida that his brother “had nothing to do with any political organization, religious organization, no white supremacist, nothing, as far as I know. And I’ve only known him for 57 years.”
Mr. Paddock had a private pilot’s license, according to Federal Aviation Administration, and had two small single-engine planes registered in his name. There are no records of Mr. Paddock having served in the military. Mr. Paddock had a private pilot’s license, according to Federal Aviation Administration, and had two small single-engine planes registered in his name.
Mr. Paddock’s ex-wife, who now lives near Los Angeles, told the Los Angeles police that they had divorced 27 years ago after being married six years. They had no children. One of Mr. Paddock’s ex-wives, who now lives near Los Angeles, told the Los Angeles police that they had divorced 27 years ago after being married six years. They had no children.
His brother described Mr. Paddock as a wealthy guy who liked to play video poker and take cruises. He owned several homes and properties across the country, according to a review of public records.
“He didn’t have active employment. His life is an open book,” the brother said. “It’s all in the public record. He went to college, he had a job. You’ll find out.” “He seemed normal, other than that he lived by gambling,” Sharon Judy, a former neighbor, told FloridaToday. “ He was very open about that. First time we ever met him, he handed us the key to the house and said, ‘Hey, would keep an eye on the house, we’re only going to be here every now and then.’ ”
Mr. Paddock spent several years living in Mesquite, Tex., an eastern suburb of Dallas. From 2004 and 2012, Mr. Paddock was associated with several properties in the city and had a Texas driver’s license that has now expired, according to a spokesman for the Mesquite police department.
“We have no record that we have dealt with him in any way,” said the police spokesman, Lt. Brian Parrish. “We have no record that we’ve ever dealt with him.”
Speaking to FloridaToday in Viera, where Mr. Paddock had a home, a neighbor, Sharon Judy, described Mr. Paddock as “a normal man.”
“He seemed normal, other than that he lived by gambling,” Ms. Judy told FloridaToday. “ He was very open about that. First time we ever met him, he handed us the key to the house and said, ‘Hey, would keep an eye on the house, we’re only going to be here every now and then.’ ”
Details of Mr. Paddock’s employment history are sparse.
Lockheed Martin, the aerospace contracting company created by a 1994 merger, confirmed that he worked for one of its predecessor companies from 1985 to 1988. Lockheed Martin did not identify which company Mr. Paddock worked for specifically. The company said it was cooperating with law enforcement.
According to business documents, Mr. Paddock once owned a working-class apartment complex in Mesquite, Tex. A resident, Priscilla McBride, told The Dallas Morning News that Mr. Paddock often roamed the apartment property, casually talking to residents.
He moved away several years ago, she said, and they had not seen each other since. “I thought, ‘It couldn’t be,’ ” she said. “You would have never thought he would be killing people. You just never know.”
The road leading to Mr. Paddock’s Mesquite, Nev., house was blocked on Monday, after the neighborhood was thrown into chaos by the news.
“It’s quiet and peaceful here,” said Rose Dean, a resident of the community, which accepts residents 55 and older. “Everybody takes walks and waves at each other.”
Ms. Dean, who has lived in the retirement community for eight months, said she did not remember meeting Mr. Paddock and was shocked to learn that he lived in Mesquite.
“Someone called me this morning and said, ‘Hey, that was your neighbor!’ ”
Mr. Paddock’s father, Benjamin Patrick Paddock, had a troubled history. He was convicted in 1961 of committing a series of bank robberies, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He escaped from La Tuna federal prison in 1968, and was on the F.B.I.’s “Top Ten” most wanted list, through most of the 1970s, according to someone familiar with the investigation.
News accounts from the time said that Benjamin Paddock “employed violence in attempting to evade arrest, and has been diagnosed as being psychopathic, with possible suicidal tendencies.” He was recaptured in 1978 in Oregon, where he was running a bingo parlor.
Benjamin Paddock was also convicted in Illinois in 1946 on 10 counts of auto theft and five counts of running a confidence game. Eric Paddock said the brothers did not know their father.