It’s been almost two months since the terrifying shooting in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, many details still remain murky. Today, police released terrifying new details.
Stephen Paddock fired over 1,100 rounds at the fleeing crowd. 200 rounds were fired into the Mandalay Bay hallway, where hotel security guard Jesus Campos was injured. Moreover, Paddock still had about 4,000 rounds to go before police broke in. Imagine how much worse the death toll might have been.
In the weeks before the attack, Paddock had made several large gambling transactions. However, it was unclear if the transactions had been wins or losses. Paddock loved to gamble and was a high roller.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo described Paddock in an interview with CBS affiliate KLAS-TV:
This individual was status-driven, based on how he liked to be recognized in the casino environment and how he liked to be recognized by his friends and family. So, obviously, that was starting to decline in the short period of time, and that may have had a determining effect on why he did what he did.
Paddock has captured the country’s fascination…and horror. He had no criminal record and supposedly exhibited no signs of mental illness. Because he was able to fly low under the radar, he committed the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. His hard drive was erased, which leads to more questions.
Paddock’s brain is being studied at Stanford University in an attempt to figure out what happened.
Authorities in the investigation have remained very tight-lipped. They have been questioning the family.
According to Lombardo:
…it is strange…the issues that are coming to light as we interview the family further and further. As far as the family being of sound mind, that is yet to be determined.
From Fox News:
Complaints about [Bruce Paddock’s] behavior at Four Seasons Healthcare & Wellness Center in Los Angeles included one incident in which Bruce yelled at the administrator, “don’t f— with me and tell your nurses not to f— with me because I’m the one that hurts people,” TMZ has reported.
In another incident, Paddock reportedly broke into the facility center and blocked himself in a room, screaming “Get the f— out of my way or I’m going to kill you,” when an employee approached him.
It has also emerged the father of the gunman behind the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history had a colorful history of his own. Benjamin Hoskins Paddock robbed a string of banks in Arizona, escaped prison in Texas and tried to start a new life as the manager of a bingo parlor in Oregon, according to historical newspaper articles.
Benjamin had a host of fake names and nicknames, including “Big Daddy” and “Bingo Bruce,” and was on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list from 1969 to 1977.
Jim Clemente, a retired FBI profiler, said in an interview that Benjamin was diagnosed as a psychopath.
