Stephen Craig Paddock was an American mass murderer responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, in which he opened fire into a crowd of about 22,000 concertgoers attending a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. Take a look below for 30 more interesting and bizarre facts about Stephen Paddock.
1. Paddock’s mass shooting spree is the deadliest mass shooting by a lone shooter in United States history, with 58 fatalities and 851 injuries.
2. Paddock committed suicide in his hotel room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
3. He lived in Mesquite, Nevada, and was a real-estate investor, property manager, retired accountant, amateur pilot and avid video poker gambler.
4. He was born in Clinton, Iowa. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and the Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles, as the eldest of four sons of Benjamin Paddock.
5. Paddock’s father was a bank robber who was arrested in 1960, when Stephen was seven years old. Benjamin was later convicted and escaped prison in 1969, subsequently appearing on the FBI’s most wanted list.
6. According to Paddock’s brother, they never really knew their father, as he was never with their mother.
7. Paddock graduated from John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in 1971, and from California State University, Northridge in 1977, with a degree in business administration.
8. Paddock was married and divorced twice. His was first married from 1977 to 1979, and for the second time from 1985 to 1990.
9. His family members say that he stayed on good terms with both of his ex-wives.
10. His brother Eric said that Paddock had no political or religious affiliations of any kind. His third and final wife explained that he was an atheist Trump supporter.
11. Paddock lived in Texas and in California, and then in a retirement community in Melbourne, Florida, from 2013 to 2015.
12. In 2016, he moved from Florida to another retirement home in Mesquite, Nevada.
13. According to property records, he bought a new house in Mesquite in January, 2015, and sold his two-bedroom home in Melbourne.
14. Paddock lived in Mesquite for several years with his girlfriend, whom he met in Reno, Nevada. According to neighbors, they also lived together in Reno.
15. Many Mesquite residents recalled only seeing him around town. Those familiar with Paddock, described him as someone who didn’t speak much and kept a low profile.
16. Local gun owner communities never saw him at any of their gun clubs or shooting ranges, including makeshift ones in the nearby desert.
17. An Australian acquaintance said that he met Paddock in the United States and in the Philippines. He described Paddock as intelligent and methodical.
18. In 2010, Paddock applied for and received a United States passport. He went on 20 cruise ship voyages, visiting several foreign ports including Spain, Italy, Greece, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
19. Paddock had his pilot’s license since at least 2004 and owned two small planes.
20. His only recorded interaction with police was a minor traffic citation years before the shooting, which he settled in court.
21. According to court records, Paddock sued the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in September, 2012, claiming that he, “slipped and fell on an obstruction on the floor”, and was injured as a result. The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice in October, 2014.
22. During his last months, Paddock reportedly smelled of alcohol from early morning, and appeared despondent. He was reported to have filled three prescriptions for the anti-anxiety drug Valium, in 2013 and again in 2016, and finally 50 tablets of 10 milligrams each four months before the shooting in June, 2017.
23. During the interview with local CBS affiliate KLAS-TV, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said that Paddock had reportedly been losing “a significant amount of wealth” since September, 2015, which led to him having “bouts of depression.”
24. Paddock’s gun purchases spiked significantly between October, 2016, and September 28, 2017, just 2 days before the shooting. He bought over 55 guns, the majority of them rifles, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
25. At his suggestion, two weeks before the attack, his girlfriend went to her native country, the Philippines. Paddock bought her a surprise airline ticket and soon after wired her $100,00 to buy a house there.
26. Paddock planned his Las Vegas attack meticulously. On September 25, six days before the shooting, he checked into a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel with 10 range bags and a computer.
27. On September 29, he moved into another suite connected to the first one; both rooms overlooked the festival grounds. He stayed in both in the days leading up to the shooting.
28. After Paddock killed himself, the police found 23 rifles and one handgun inside his room.
29. At some point during the attack on the crowd, Paddock, who had placed a baby monitor camera on a service cart outside his room, fired about 200 rounds through his door. The shots wounded the approaching hotel security guard Jesus Campos.
30. In addition to the firearms and accessories found in Paddock’s hotel room, there was a note that reportedly included handwritten calculations about where he needed to aim to maximize his accuracy.