Profile: Shooter behind Las Vegas massacre

APD NEWS

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Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old resident of Mesquite, Nevada, is the man suspected of killing at least 59 people and injuring more than 527 people. The suspect shot himself before police burst in his room.

The shooter opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino at a crowd of more than 20,000 people across the street attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival.

The police said Paddock had no criminal history, according to ABC News. And law enforcement has no “derogatory information” about the man, besides the fact that he received a citation several years ago that was handled in the court system.

ABC News reports he worked as an accountant or auditor and was at one point employed by a company that later became Lockheed Martin from 1985 to 1988.

Stephen Paddock's house in Nevada. /AFP Photo

He was a pilot who owned an aircraft that he kept at Mesquite Metro Airport in Texas from 2007 to 2009, according to ABC News.

Documents show that Paddock and his wife, Peggy, divorced in 1990. The couple does not appear to have had any children.

Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, 62, worked as a casino hostess for high-end players.

His brother, Eric Paddock said Stephen Paddock had never shown violent tendencies.

"He was my brother and it's like an asteroid fell out of the sky," Eric Paddock said when he learned his sibling was the gunman in the Las Vegas massacre, according to CNN News’ report.

“He was a wealthy guy playing video poker... on cruises," his brother said, adding that Stephen could afford anything he wanted and played $100-a-hand poker, according to CNN.

Paddock's father Benjamin Hoskins Paddock was a notorious bank robber. /Reuters Photo

Eric Paddock told ABC News, their estranged father, Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, was a notorious bank robber who spent several years on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

So far, the police have found more than 18 firearms, explosives and several thousand rounds of ammo at shooter’s house in Mesquite. But his motives remain a mystery.

(CGTN)