What caused a retired accountant with a couple of million dollars in his bank account, no history of violence or scrapes with the law, to carry out the calculated mass killing in Las Vegas that left 59 people dead and over 500 more injured?
From a hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, Stephen Paddock prepared for the massacre. Over a few days he carried 10 suitcases into his room, filled with weapons, ammunition, tripods and explosives… And on the fateful night he broke 2 windows in his suite with a hammer and from his elevated vantage point he unloaded hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
His target: an open air country music festival attended by approximately 22,000 people, young and old alike. The final songs of the 3-day festival were being played out when he struck. As bullets reigned down and people were hit, there was mass panic and chaos as concert goers attempted to flea. Some jumped over fences. Others “got down” in an attempt to avoid being shot, but from the shooter’s hotel room, people low and stationary were probably more at risk than those running for their lives.
As carnage ensued on the field below, SWAT teams were trying to locate the shooter and moved in on him from inside the hotel. The gunman was able to shoot a security guard in the leg before the SWAT team blew his hotel door in using explosives and found him dead. He had shot himself just before they entered the room.
The killer was found dead, but what hasn’t been found is his motive. Investigators say there is so far no sign of a link to international terrorism, despite a claim from ISIS that he was a soldier of theirs. Some investigators have suggested he had mental health issues but this has not been confirmed. Both his brothers have said they knew of no strong religious or political views, and did not known him to be violent. He had no criminal record and was not known to police.
Paddock was a gambler. He liked high stakes, betting tens of thousands of dollars at a time and spent much of his time living in hotels in and around Nevada, gambling. He also enjoyed country music, and would go to music festivals like the one he opened fire on on Sunday evening.
His father, Benjamin Paddock, was a bank robber, who went to prison in the 60s, when Stephen was just 8 years old. He later escaped and was placed on the FBI’s most wanted list. A wanted poster at the time, warned that the fugitive was “diagnosed as psychopathic,” “reportedly has suicidal tendencies” and “should be considered armed and very dangerous.” Stephen Paddock’s mother told her sons that their father had died when in fact he was in prison.
Some conspiracy theorists claim that the government are not telling the whole story, and that he could indeed have links to ISIS. Or was he just very angry with Trump? There’s a huge question mark as to where he was able to obtain all his weapons, considering he had no formal training or military history. Was he really acting alone? We may never know the truth…
