Photo courtesy of People.
Summary: The Las Vegas gunman had sued a casino for negligence in 2012.
Stephen Paddock is a domestic terrorist responsible for the biggest mass shooting in recent history. The 64-year-old from Nevada had a girlfriend and family, and his brother told the media that he did not appear to have signs of mental illness. So why did he do what he did?
On Sunday, Paddock shot into the crowd of a country music concert, and he murdered almost 60 people and wounded over 500. He had been staying on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay resort since Thursday morning, and on Sunday, he had broken a window with a hammer so that he could fire rounds from his collection of 19 weapons that he had snuck into the hotel.
According to Heavy, Paddock had no prior criminal record, just a traffic ticket, but he had sued a casino in 2012. In his lawsuit, he alleged that he was harmed at The Cosmopolitan after he tripped and fell onto an obstruction on the floor. He said that the conditions at the luxury resort were dangerous, and the case was dismissed in 2014 when the two settled out of court.
But besides the lawsuit, Paddock did not have enough interaction with law enforcement for them to come up with a motive.
“What’s unique for us is the gunman, the shooter, and the person with him, we in the Mesquite Police Department have not had any contact with these people in the past. We haven’t had any traffic stops, any law enforcement contact, no arrests or nothing,” Mesquite, Nevada police spokesman Quinn Averett told CNN.
When police descended on Paddock’s room at the Mandalay Bay resort, they had found 19 weapons and that he had killed himself with a self-inflicted gunshot. A source told Fox News that before the shooting he had purchased 30 guns.
ABC News said that Paddock’s financial history may provide a key to his motive. He had over 200 flagged financial transactions, including overseas money transfers and casino exchanges. One of those overseas transactions was for $10,000 to the Phillippines. While it is unclear who the money went to, it is speculated that Paddock had given it to his girlfriend’s family.
His girlfriend, who had been traveling overseas at the time of the shooting, is not a person of interest in this case; but authorities are waiting for her return to find out more about Stephen.
Stephen’s brother, Eric Paddock, said that Stephen Paddock did not have money problems. Eric said that Stephen was a multimillion who liked to gamble, and it is unclear whether or not Stephen’s numerous flagged transactions were nothing more than those of a casino high roller taking out cash.
Eric Paddock also said that his brother was not religious. Las Vegas officials said that the shooting did not appear to be related to international terrorism, even though ISIS has claimed responsibility for the act.