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Las Vegas, Oct 3: Stephen Paddock, who fired indiscriminately at a music festival from the 32nd floor of Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, was a wealthy and peaceful man. The people who knew him described the 64-year-old as a loner and there was no way that he was capable of holing up at the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay, and opening fire at a country music festival across the street. The mass shooting on Monday killed 59 people and injured more than 500 others.
The gunman’s brother Eric Paddock described him as a wealthy man who liked to play video poker and go on cruises. Paddock said that his brother has “never drawn his gun, it makes no sense”. He added that he knew his brother kept a couple of handguns in his safe but he didn’t have an automatic rifle. (Also Read: An Act of Pure Evil: President Trump on Las Vegas Mass Shooting)
He described Stephen Paddock as a peaceful man who had moved to the red desert hills of Nevada partly because gambling is legal in the state. He hated Central Florida’s humidity, Eric Paddock told the reporters from his doorstep in Orlando, Florida. “He had nothing to do with any political organisation and religious organizations,” Livemint reported him as saying. The last conversation that the two brothers had was in early September when they had talked about power outages in Florida after the Hurricane Irma.
In last few weeks, Paddock had made a few gambling transactions worth tens of thousands of dollars. However, it is unclear if they were of wins or losses. A Lockheed Martin spokeswoman said that Paddock worked for a predecessor of the company from 1985 to 1988.
Paddock had a hunting license in Texas. He had a pilot license and had one single-engine aircraft registered in his name. In early 2015, Paddock had bought a two-storey building in Mesquite, a small desert town, Nevada. Before moving to the Mesquite house, he worked at an apartment complex in another town Mesquite in Texas.
The FBI on Monday said that shooter Stephen Paddock acted alone and had no links with any militant group. However, terror outfit ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in its news agency Al-Amaq. They said that Paddock had converted to Islam a few months ago. The outfit, however, offered no evidence to support their claim.
The reports claim that the firing started at around 10 PM (0400 hrs GMT local time) and continued for about 30 minutes. Paddock killed himself before the SWAT team could apprehend him. The cops found at least 10 rifles in the room.
US President Donald Trump offered condemned the mass shooting. Trump called it an act of pure evil and assured that his government would “strongly stand by the bereaved families”. “It was an evil attack. All possible assistance is being provided to the investigators,” Trump said, adding, “I am thankful to the Metropolitan Police Department for their quick response.”
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