Posted on 10/02/2017 10:14:05 AM PDT by Drew68
The suspected gunman behind the Las Vegas massacre made several large gambling transactions in recent weeks, according to law enforcement officials.
The transactions in Las Vegas by Stephen Paddock were in the tens of thousands, the officials said.
It was not immediately clear if those transactions were losses or wins.
Paddock's brothers were stunned to learn Monday that their sibling was the suspected perpetrator of the largest mass shooting in modern American history.
Eric Paddock of Orlando, Florida, said he had "no idea" why his 64-year-old brother committed the shooting.
“Mars just fell into the earth,” he told NBC News. “We’re completely dumbfounded.”
Eric Paddock said his brother was retired and was "just a guy" who went to the hotels, gambled, and went to shows.
Stephen Paddock's brother Bruce Paddock, who lives in California, said his family grew up in Sun Valley, California. Their father, Benjamin Paddock, was on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted list for robbing banks.
At least 58 people were killed when Paddock opened fire into a crowd of approximately 22,000 at an outdoor country music festival from the 32nd floor of Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Sunday night, police said.
Police said more than 500 people had been taken to hospitals.
Bruce, who said he hadn't talked to Stephen, who lived in Mesquite, Nevada, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, in approximately 10 years, said his brother made money through apartment buildings, which he owned and managed with his mother, who lives in Florida.
"I don't know how he could stoop to this low point, hurting someone else," Bruce said.
He added that his brother was a laid-back, "never-in-a-hurry" type of guy. Bruce said his brother was a law-abiding citizen who never did anything violent prior to the shooting.
The shooting is not believed to be connected to international terrorism, NBC News has learned.
The suspect was a licensed pilot, who owned two planes. He also had a hunting license from Alaska.
It is believed he lived in a retirement community in Mesquite.
Public records show Stephen Paddock lived a relatively transient life, moving to 27 different residences between California, Texas and Nevada.
Between 1985 and 1988, he worked for a predecessor company of Lockheed Martin. Public records show he was employed as an "internal auditor."
"We’re cooperating with authorities to answer questions they may have about Mr. Paddock and his time with the company," the company said in a statement.
Police responded to reports of the shooting just after 10 p.m. (1 a.m. ET) in the Mandalay Bay Resort, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said. Lombardo said Paddock shot and killed himself before police could reach him.
It is still not known what kind of weapon Paddock used, but officials said more than 10 rifles were recovered from his hotel room.
Officials were searching for Marilou Danley, whom they identified as a companion of the suspect, Lombardo said.
Just before 7 a.m. ET, police tweeted that they had "located the female person of interest." Lombardo said Danley was located out of the country and was not believed to be involved in the shooting. He added that Paddock was utilizing some of her identification.
Authorities described having found several weapons in Paddock's hotel room after the shooting.
Run that one by me again. His girlfriend was a Muslim? Is that confirmed?
“Located out of the country”...sounds familiar.
He fits the profile of the Bernie Bro - like the guy who shot up the GOP baseball game and sent Steve Scalise to the hospital.
Personally I thought it sounded like an M249.
And using Google Maps you can find the distance from the Mandalay to the concert venue was about 500 meters. He was on the 32nd floor - which is about 115 meters meaning he was around 525 meters from his target area (unless my math is off as I’m doing it in my head).
The max point effective range for an AK or M4 is around 500 meters - with an area range a little bit further. The max effective point range for a 249 is around 600 meters with an area range of around 800.
All of that is in the hands of a trained operator though - in the hands of a “normal guy who just went haywire” I’d bet he’d have a hard time keeping 5% of his rounds in the target area - if that - no matter the weapon.
Between 1985 and 1988, he worked for a predecessor company of Lockheed Martin.
Ford Aerospace?
there is also a story saying he was going through a nasty divorce. Perhaps divorce laws need to be changed. Less “fleece the male”.
Nobody is blaming the judges in “going through nasty divorce” situations.
There are AR-10s.
Less is more in this case.
Ford Aerospace was bought out by Loral, not LM.
cnbc this am was calling it a bump fire arms. (anyone?)
And a flock of pigs just flew by my window.
They have them for AR-15s too.
Marilou doesn't sound like a Muslim name.
I was born and raised in Michigan which was Union/Democrat Central when I was a kid.
There were then, and are now, more hunters up there who are way to the left, union and Democrat loving, than there are conservatives.
It’s why they blew up Harrahs casino in Tahoe about 25 years ago.
Gambling is one of the bajillion things forbidden to Muslims, as in gambling earns Islamic Pokemon points towards hell. A devout Muslim might gamble for a short time to establish cover. This guy was a lifelong gambler.
Suicide is another no-no in Islam. Getting killed while trying to kill the infidel is fine. But he wasn't shot by cops. He killed himself.
This guy wasn't a Muslim jihadist. He just went berserk/postal.
I missed that one.
Missed my point there SS.
I was answering someone who said the media couldn’t be saying anything yet about the shooter. My point is the history of the Lying leftist media is that if they have ANY suspicion of a shooter being a white supremacist or an NRA guy, they don’t hesitate to splash it all over the news
“this is looking for and more like someone who just “snapped”.”
Your definition of someone “who just snapped” has to be very far from mine. This massacre required months of planning and recon and action - not to mention a tremendous amount of money and probably some help along the way.
This is prime time here in Vegas - The Strip is heavily booked well in advance - to get a corner suite on the 32nd floor in Mandalay for four days on this weekend requires advance booking, probably months ahead, and no small sum of money. Then there is the cost of the arsenal he acquired, which from all appearances includes military-style weapons.
Someone doesn’t just “snap” and put in the months of recon, acquisition and planning. He planned this carefully and spent a lot of money implementing it. That “snap” lasted a terribly long time to accomplish this in the manner he did.
Perhaps he is a whale........ gets good things for gambling
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