Stephen Craig Paddock, the 64-year-old man who police say killed at least 58 people and injured more than 500 others at a country concert in Las Vegas, was a retiree with no criminal history.
Paddock was found dead by officers in a hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Casino. Police say Paddock had as many as 10 guns, including rifles, with him.
The suspect’s brother, Eric Paddock, told CNN Monday his brother was an accountant who gambled large sums of money.
“He was a wealthy guy playing video poker… on cruises,” he said.
Eric also said their father was a notorious bank robber who was once on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list. Their father died a few years ago.
Eric Paddock also said his brother had been married once but didn’t know if he had any children. He last communicated with him over text, asking if their 90-year-old mother was okay after she lost power during Hurricane Irma.
Connection to ISIS?
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying Paddock was a soldier for the terror group who converted to Islam a few months ago. However, the group provided no evidence.
When asked if the massacre was a suspected “act of terrorism,” Sheriff Jospeh Lombardo said “no.”
“Not at this point,” he said. “We believe it was a local individual. He resides here locally. I’m not at liberty to give you his place of residence yet, because it’s an ongoing investigation, we don’t know what his belief system was at this time. …Right now we believe he is the sole aggressor at this point and the scene is static.
Police have yet to find a motive for the attack.
“I can’t get into the mind of a psychopath at this point,” Lombardo said.
A Lone Wolf
Authorities also believe Paddock acted alone but had identified his female companion, Marilou Danley, as a person of interest. Danley lived with Paddock in his single-family home in Sun City Mesquite, a retirement community along the Nevada-Arizona border.
Authorities said they don’t believe she was involved and was out of the country at the time of the shooting but they wanted to speak to her when she returned.
Paddock bought the one-story, three-bedroom home about 80 miles north of Las Vegas in 2015 for about $370,000.
A preliminary review of police records does not indicate that authorities had any contact with him, but police are still investigating.
