 "Las Vegas shooting: 64-year-old attacker Stephen Paddock was a resident of Mesquite; may have 'snapped'")
Las Vegas Police, on Monday, said that more than 50 people were killed and at least 400 wounded when a gunman opened fire on a music concert near Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The police termed the shooting attack as the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the United States. The question that’s been troubling everyone is what led the gunman to go on a shooting spree like that killing so many innocent people. Las Vegas Metro Police Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told a press conference that the gunman had been identified as a local man called Stephen Paddock. He was 64 years old.
Sheriff Lombardo said that Paddock operated on his own, and that he was a lone attacker. According to Reuters, Paddock had more than 10 guns with him. Various media articles reported that Paddock began firing from the 32nd floor of the nearby Mandalay Bay hotel. He shot himself before the police could arrive. The 64-year-old was a resident of Mesquite, a retirement and golf community of about 20,000 people in Nevada, as per The Guardian.
A photo of the shooter, Stephen Paddock, has been provided by his brother. https://t.co/SpBJazTrGX pic.twitter.com/dXtqLVPaJs
— KSNV News 3 Las Vegas (@News3LV) October 2, 2017
According to The Telegraph, Paddock is reported to be born on 9 April, 1953. The article further claimed that “he previously lived in Reno, Nevada, from 2011 to 2016, and also had an address in Melbourne, Florida, from 2013 to 2015.” Mesquite Police told CBS News that they were not familiar with Paddock and that he is a white male, as reported by The Telegraph. According to records, “Paddock lived in a three-year-old, $396,000 two-bedroom home in Mesquite, as reported by The Independent. Paddock’s brother Eric was stunned upon hearing the news: “We have no idea. We’re horrified. We’re bewildered and our condolences go out to the victims. We have no idea in the world,” as quoted by The Independent. Furthermore, Eric told News Las Vegas, “He was just a guy. Something happened, he snapped or something.” He added that he and Stephen were not close. The attacker was known to be travelling with a female companion, Marilou Danley. Police initially said that they were looking for Danley on Monday, but later released a statement saying that she was no longer being sought, as reported by Time. The article further mentioned that Paddock’s motive was still unclear. Sherrif Lombardo was quoted by Time: “We have no idea what his belief system was. Right now, we believe he was the sole aggressor and the scene is static.” Police have stated that they did not believe that Paddock was connected to any militant group, according to The Independent.
