The Las Vegas shooter's father was a diagnosed psychopath and on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list
Courtesy FBI/Handout via REUTERS
Police have identified 64-year-old Stephen Paddock as the shooter who opened fire on a Las Vegas festival on Sunday night. Paddock fired off several rounds from what appeared to be an automatic rifle, killing 58 and injuring over 500.
Police have not yet determined a motive for Paddock's actions.
His father, Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, was a diagnosed psychopath, according to the FBI, and he was convicted of "bank robbery, automobile larceny, and confidence game."
He died several years ago, according to his son and Stephen's brother, Eric.
The bureau's poster on Paddock cautioned that he had committed armed robberies before, had "suicidal tendencies," and "should be considered armed and very dangerous."
Paddock robbed several banks in Arizona in 1960 and was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison, but he escaped from a Texas prison in 1969, Fox News reported, citing historical newspaper articles.
He evaded law enforcement for several years after and adopted many aliases, according to the FBI's poster. He also tried to build a new life as the manager of a "bingo parlor" in Oregon. But in 1987, the Oregon Attorney General slapped Paddock with seven racketeering charges related to his bingo business, Fox News reported. Paddock reportedly settled the charges for $623,000.
His son, Stephen, had at least 10 rifles in the hotel room on the Mandalay Bay's 32nd floor, where he had been staying since September 28, authorities said Monday.
Armed with what appeared to be at least one automatic weapon, Stephen Paddock used the elevated vantage point to fire into the crowds across the Las Vegas Strip at the Route 91 Harvest festival, where Jason Aldean was onstage.
The death toll makes the massacre the deadliest shooting in modern US history, surpassing the attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, last year that claimed 49 lives.
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