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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 3 OcTOber 2017
Brother: High-rise gunman kills 59 at Las Vegas festival

Gunman was a
successful real Continued from Front

estate investor The FBI said it found nothing

By KEN RITTER so far to suggest the attack
was connected to interna-
GENE JOHNSON tional terrorism, despite a
Associated Press claim of responsibility from
MESQUITE, Nev. (AP) — the Islamic State group,
Stephen Paddock lived in which said Paddock was a Las Vegas gunman
a tidy Nevada retirement “soldier” who had recently Stephen Paddock.
community where the converted to Islam. (Eric Paddock/AP)
amenities include golf, ten- In an address to the coun-
nis and bocce. He was a try, President Donald Trump
multimillionaire real-estate called the bloodbath “an
investor, recently shipped act of pure evil” and add-
his 90-year-old mother a ed: “In moments of trag-
walker and liked to travel edy and horror, America
to Las Vegas to play high- comes together as one.
stakes video poker. And it always has.” He or-
Nothing in his background dered flags flown at half-
suggests why he would staff.
have been on the 32nd With hospitals jammed with
floor of the Mandalay Bay victims, authorities put out
Hotel and Casino with at a call for blood donations People assist a wounded woman at the Tropicana during an active shooter situation on the Las
least 17 guns on Sunday and set up a hotline to re- Vegas Stirp in Las Vegas Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017.
night, raining an unparal- port missing people and (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
leled slaughter upon an speed the identification of said on his radio that he Bodies were laid out on the to an engineering room
outdoor country music fes- the dead and wounded. was pinned down against artificial turf installed in front and spent hours there with
tival below. They also opened a “fam- a wall on Las Vegas Boule- of the stage, and people others who followed him.
“I can’t even make some- ily reunification center” for vard with 40 to 50 people. were screaming and cry- The shooting had begun
thing up,” his bewildered people to find loved ones. “We can’t worry about the ing. The sound of people as Aldean closed out the
brother, Eric Paddock, told More than 12 hours after victims,” an officer said at running on the bleachers three-day Route 91 Har-
reporters Monday. “There’s the massacre, bodies cov- 10:15 p.m. “We need to added to the confusion, vest Festival. He had just
just nothing.” ered in white sheets were stop the shooter before we and Schneider thought the opened the song “When
Public records offered no still being removed from have more victims. Any- concert was being invad- She Says Baby” and the
hint of financial distress or the festival grounds. body have eyes on him ... ed with multiple shooters. first burst of nearly 50 shots
criminal history. Eric Pad- The shooting began at stop the shooter.” “No one knew what to do,” crackled as he sang, “It’s
dock, who spoke with re- 10:08 p.m., and the gun- Near the stage, Dylan Sch- Schneider said. “It’s liter- tough just getting up.”
porters outside his home man appeared to fire un- neider, a country singer ally running for life and you Muzzle flashes could be
near Orlando, Florida, said hindered for more than 10 who performed earlier in don’t know what decision seen in the dark as the gun-
even if his brother had minutes, according to ra- the day, huddled with oth- is the right one. But like I man fired. “It was the cra-
been in financial trouble, dio traffic. Police frantically ers under the VIP bleach- said, I knew we had to get ziest stuff I’ve ever seen in
the family could have tried to locate him and de- ers, where he turned to out of there.” my entire life,” said Kodiak
bailed him out. termine whether the gun- his manager and asked, He eventually pushed his Yazzie, 36. “You could hear
“No affiliation, no religion, fire was coming from Man- “Dude, what do we do?” way out of the crowd and that the noise was coming
no politics. He never cared dalay Bay or the neighbor- He said he repeated the found refuge in the nearby from west of us, from Man-
about any of that stuff,” ing Luxor hotel. question again and again Tropicana hotel-casino, dalay Bay. You could see a
Eric Paddock said as he al- At 10:14 p.m., an officer over the next five minutes. where he kicked in a door flash, flash, flash, flash.”q
ternately wept and shout-
ed. “He was a guy who
had money. He went on Trump sticks to somber script, avoids guns debate
cruises and gambled.”
Stephen Paddock, who By JONATHAN LEMIRE “Our unity cannot be shat- thousands of concertgoers
had worked previously as WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- tered by evil, our bonds screamed and ran for their
an accountant, was “not dent Donald Trump stuck cannot be broken by vio- lives. More than 500 people
an avid gun guy at all,” to a somber script Monday lence,” the president said. were hurt.
though he had a couple of after at least 58 people “We call upon the bonds In a measured statement
handguns and a long gun, were shot dead in Las Ve- that unite us: our faith, our that was revised by aides
he said. gas, condemning the larg- family, and our shared until moments before he
Eric Paddock also told est mass shooting in mod- values. We call upon the spoke, Trump did not de-
The Associated Press that ern U.S. history as an “act President Donald Trump and bonds of citizenship, the scribe the gunman in any
he had not talked to his of pure evil” and declar- first lady Melania Trump stand ties of community, and the way or suggest what might
brother in six months and ing the nation would unite during a moment of silence to comfort of our common have been behind his ac-
last heard from him when behind the survivors. He remember the victims of the humanity.” tions. He praised the first
Stephen checked in briefly refused to get into a new mass shooting in Las Vegas, Trump spoke hours after a responders who he said
by text message after Hur- debate over gun control. on the South Lawn of the gunman on the 32nd floor prevented further loss of
White House in Washington,
ricane Irma. Faced with the sad and fa- Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. of a Vegas Strip casino life and said he would visit
Their mother spoke with miliar ritual of a president (AP Photo/Pablo Monsivais) opened fire on people at Las Vegas on Wednesday.
him about two weeks ago, offering consolation after an outdoor country music He offered condolences to
and when he found out horrific violence, Trump on the identity or possible festival below. The gun- the families of those killed,
recently that she needed spoke slowly and carefully motive of the shooter but man, 64-year-old Stephen saying, “We cannot fath-
a walker, he sent her one, from the White House Dip- on the nation’s efforts to Craig Paddock, killed at om their pain. We cannot
Eric Paddock said. q lomatic Room, focusing not heal. least 58 people as tens of imagine their loss.”q