The brother of Stephen Paddock, the 64-year-old gunman who opened fire on concertgoers during a Las Vegas country music festival on Sunday night, has revealed disturbing information about their family history.
According to NBC News national correspondent Peter Alexander, Eric Paddock has revealed that their father, Patrick Benjamin Paddock, was a bank robber who used to be on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
NEW: Shooter’s brother says their father was Patrick Benjamin Paddock, a bank robber who he says was on FBI Most Wanted list. @tracyconnor
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 2, 2017
NBC obtained an FBI poster dating back to 1969 that depicts a wanted man by the name of Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, who was “diagnosed as psychopathic, has carried firearms in commission of bank robberies” and “reportedly has suicidal tendencies and should be considered armed and very dangerous.”
According to the El Paso Times, Benjamin Paddock, who was known as “Chrome Dome” for his shaved head, was captured in 1978 while running a bingo parlor in Oregon. Stephen Paddock’s siblings say they were completely stunned to learn that their brother had committed the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, referring to him as “just a guy” who was retired and liked to gamble.
“Mars just fell into the earth,” Eric Paddock told NBC News. “We’re completely dumbfounded.”
More than fifty people were killed and over 500 injured in the shooting Sunday night in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Casino, aiming into a close-packed crowd of thousands of people who were watching a country music festival, police said.
