Las Vegas shooter was heavy gambler, son of ‘psychopath’ bank-robber
Details emerge about Stephen Paddock, retired accountant who killed 58; brother says he was ‘not a normal guy’
The brother of the gunman who killed over 50 people and injured hundreds more at a Las Vegas concert said Stephen Paddock was a high-stakes gambler and their father was a bank robber who was among the FBI’s most wanted fugitives.
Stephen Paddock’s father, Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, was one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives, but was removed from the list in 1977 because he no longer fit the “criteria,” according to the bureau.
His brother Bruce Paddock, who said he had not spoke to Stephen Paddock in 10 years, confirmed the father’s identity to NBC news.
A wanted poster described Benjamin Paddock as “psychopathic” and said he “should be considered armed and very dangerous.”
The poster also listed a number of Paddock’s aliases, including “Big Daddy,” “Chromedome” and “Old Baldy.”
He was arrested in Las Vegas in 1960 after stealing some $25,000 from Phoenix banks, according to a clipping from the Arizona Republic.
NEW: Shooter's brother says their father was Patrick Benjamin Paddock, a bank robber who he says was on FBI Most Wanted list. @tracyconnor
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 2, 2017
An article from 1998 in an Oregon newspaper said the elder Paddock was added to the FBI’s most wanted list after escaping from a Texas prison, where he had been serving a 20-year-sentence for the bank robberies.
Evading arrest by changing his name, the article said Paddock ran a “bingo empire” in Oregon, over which he was eventually charged with racketeering. He died in 1998
Police said Monday that shooter Stephen Paddock, 64, was a retiree with no criminal history in the Nevada county where he lived.
He apparently had worked as an accountant. Bruce Paddock said he had also made money buying and managing apartment buildings in Florida.
“I don’t know how he could stoop to this low point, hurting someone else,” Bruce Paddock told the outlet.
Another brother Eric Paddock said Stephen was “not a normal guy” and frequently played high stakes video poker.
Eric Paddock said his brother once “texted me a picture that he won $40,000 on a slot machine.”
Eric Paddock said he last had contact with him via text messages in September.
According to NBC news, Stephen Paddock made several gambling transactions in recent days worth tens of thousands of dollars, though it was unclear if they were wins or losses. Eric Paddock described him as somebody who liked to gamble.
Eric Paddock said he was “completely dumbfounded” by the shooting at a country music concert Sunday night, the deadliest in modern US history. He told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper that he can’t understand what happened.
He also told CBS News his brother was “not an avid gun guy at all.”
“Where the hell did he get automatic weapons? He has no military background or anything like that,” he said. “He’s a guy who lived in a house in Mesquite, drove down and gambled in Las Vegas. He did stuff. Eat burritos.”
Eric Paddock added that his brother had no religious or political affiliation and said he had “no idea” why Stephen Paddock carried out the shooting.
Vegas Shooter's Brother: "We're lost. I don't understand this." https://t.co/rszdpxtLVu pic.twitter.com/tbB5fAjxXR
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 2, 2017
The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the shooter had converted to Islam, but provided no evidence. Nevada authorities say they believe Stephen Paddock acted alone, and no motive was yet known.
The FBI later said Paddock had no connection to an international terrorist group.
Paddock owned a single-family home in Sun City Mesquite, a retirement community along the Nevada-Arizona border, Mesquite Police Chief Troy Tanner said.
He lived there with Marilou Danley, 62. Police now say they don’t believe she was involved.
Heavily armed police searched the home early Monday, hours after Paddock killed himself in a room at Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino where he had opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 people.
At least eight guns, including a number of long rifles, were recovered in his hotel room.
Paddock bought the one-story, three-bedroom home about 80 miles north of Las Vegas in 2015 for about $370,000, according to property records that list him as a single man.
Authorities in Texas say he lived in a Dallas suburb from 2009 to 2012. Public records indicate Paddock may have lived in Mesquite, Texas, for longer, but police Lt. Brian Parrish said his department’s review shows the approximately three-year period.
He also had a hunting license for Alaska, where hunting for big game like elk and bear is popular.
A preliminary review of police records have no indication that authorities had any contact with him, but police are still investigating, Parrish said.
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