Who Is Stephen Paddock? What We Know About The Las Vegas Shooting So Far

Gunman's brother 'horrified'.
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At least 58 people have been killed and more than 400 injured in the worst mass shooting in modern US history on Monday morning.

Stephen Paddock has been named as the gunman who opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival near the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the city’s strip at about 10.20pm on Sunday local time (6.20am Monday BST).

The mass shooting is the worst in modern US history, surpassing the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando where 49 people were gunned down last year.

Stephen Paddock has been named as the gunman who opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival.
Stephen Paddock has been named as the gunman who opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival.

Here’s everything we know about the shooter so far:

Who is Stephen Paddock?

A growing and detailled profile of Paddock suggests he lived in a Nevada retirement community and was a multimillionaire real-estate investor who liked to travel to Las Vegas to play high-stakes video poker.

Police said they believe Paddock was the “sole aggressor” and acted alone. Paddock lived in Mesquite, Nevada. Officers are searching his home.

While Islamic State claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying she “shooter converted to Islam months ago”, Aaron Rouse, the FBI agent in charge in Las Vegas, said investigators saw no connection to international terrorism.

Police said they had no information about Paddock’s motive, that he had no criminal record and was not believed to be connected to any militant group.

A senior US government official told Reuters that Paddock’s name was not on any database of suspected terrorists.

One US official said there was reason to believe that the shooter had a history of psychological problems, Reuters reports.

Las Vegas Metro Police and medical workers stage in the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas Metro Police and medical workers stage in the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada
Steve Marcus / Reuters

What do police think happened?

Police said they believe Paddock shot concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

A SWAT team blew open the entry to the 32 floor room of the hotel and found the gunman dead, police said.

Police said “numerous firearms” were found in the room. Another police source said a number of them were “long rifles”.

Paddock had been registered as a guest at the hotel since September 28.

Asked if authorities think the shooting was an act of terrorism, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of Clark County replied, “No. Not at this point. ... We don’t know what his belief system was at this time.”

Police were seeking “a companion” of the shooter, named Marilou Danley, a woman Lombardo described as Asian and 4ft 11, but have since located her. They have also found vehicles they were seeking.

Marilou Danley is being sought for questioning re the investigation into the active shooter incident. If seen please call 9-1-1! pic.twitter.com/Z83XvcHejH

— LVMPD (@LVMPD) October 2, 2017

Danley is Australian and is possibly of Indonesian decent, The Australian reports.

How did the suspect’s family react?

The suspected shooter’s brother, Eric Paddock, said the family was stunned by the news, Reuters reports.

He said the family were “dumbfounded”, adding: “We can’t understand what happened.”

“No affiliation, no religion, no politics. He never cared about any of that stuff,” Eric Paddock said as he alternately wept and shouted. “He was a guy who had money. He went on cruises and gambled.”

Stephen Paddock, who had worked previously as an accountant and never served in the military, was “not an avid gun guy at all,” though he had a couple of handguns and a long gun, he said.

Eric Paddock also told The Associated Press that he had not talked to his brother in six months and last heard from him when Stephen checked in briefly by text message after Hurricane Irma.

Their mother spoke with him about two weeks ago, and when he found out recently that she needed a walker, he sent her one, Eric Paddock said.

“She’s completely in shock,” he said.

“Not an avid gun guy at all...where the hell did he get automatic weapons? He has no military background,” gunman’s brother says pic.twitter.com/EMSKLQGYFM

— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 2, 2017

Public records offered no hint of financial distress or criminal history. Eric Paddock, who spoke with reporters outside his home near Orlando, Florida, said even if his brother had been in financial trouble, the family could have bailed him out.

Eric Paddock recalled receiving a recent text from his brother showing “a picture that he won $40,000 on a slot machine. But that’s the way he played.”

He described his brother as a multimillionaire and said they had business dealings and owned property together. He said he was not aware that his brother had gambling debts.

“He had substantial wealth. He’d tell me when he’d win. He’d grouse when he’d lost. He never said he’d lost four million dollars or something. I think he would have told me.”

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