Father of Las Vegas shooter reportedly a serial bank robber

The brother of the Las Vegas shooter confirms to an NBC reporter that their father was bank robber Patrick Benjamin Paddock, formerly on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.

Paddock’s other aliases included Benjamin Hoskins Paddock and Benjamin Hoskins Jr., according to an Arizona Republic article from 1960.

He was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list from 1969-1977, after escaping a Texas prison, where he had been serving a 20-year sentence, according to reports.

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

The Arizona Republic article from 1960 says Paddock was arrested in Las Vegas and indicted for robbing a Phoenix bank.

This is from the Arizona Republic on October 6, 1960 relating to the indictment of Benjamin Paddock. pic.twitter.com/3Kz7x2pTvG

— StoryBrew (@StoryBrew) October 2, 2017

A 1998 article in the Oregon-based Eugene Register Guard claims Paddock lived in Springfield, Oregon in 1977 under the alias Bruce Ericksen and ran a bingo business after he “found a loophole in the state’s first timid venture into the world of gambling.”

According to the article, Paddock was nabbed by the FBI in the late 1970s over his prison break, but released on parole a year later. He lived out the final decade of his life in Texas, it reported.

He appears on the FBI Most Wanted website, which notes: “In 1977, Paddock was removed from the list when it was felt he no longer fit the ‘Top Ten’ criteria.”