North Texas

Shooter at Las Vegas Music Festival Once Lived in North Texas: Records

Suspected gunman had at least one previous North Texas address

What to Know

  • SWAT officers using explosives stormed Stephen Craig Paddock's hotel room and found he had killed himself.
  • Faces of concertgoers who survived were brushed with shock and confusion, tears and screams
  • Pres. Trump tweeted: "My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!"

The retired man suspected of using an automatic weapon to unleash a barrage of gunfire on thousands of people attending an outdoor music festival Sunday in Las Vegas had three previous addresses in North Texas, NBC 5 has confirmed.

Authorities identified the gunman in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock. Police said he killed 59 and wounded 527 when he opened fire on 22,000 concertgoers at about 10 p.m. Sunday from inside his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.

[NATL-LA] Mass Shooting at Las Vegas Concert Leaves 58 Dead

Paddock's records indicate he lived at multiple addresses in Mesquite, Texas, before moving to Mesquite, Nevada. He once owned and managed the Central Park apartments on Via Ventura and lived for a time at a home around the corner from the apartment complex, about 10 years ago.

At the apartment complex on Monday one person who asked not to be identified described Paddock as a good guy and said he was well liked by many of his tenants.

Across the street from the home where he once lived, neighbor Samih Abdel said Paddock typically kept to himself.

"My mom, she agreed with me that he never really associated with anybody in the neighborhood," Abdel said.

The father of the Las Vegas gunman also has ties to Texas and an extensive criminal background.

Mesquite, Texas, police records show Paddock called police twice in 2005 to report minor issues at the apartment complex. Police said on one occasion Paddock reported vandalism to a mailbox at the apartment complex and in another instance reported a parking violation.

Police said at no time did they have any trouble with Paddock. He appears to have no previous criminal record.

The Mesquite, Texas, police department released the following statement about Paddock's time in Texas Monday afternoon:

"Stephen Craig Paddock, the suspect in the Oct. 1, mass shooting in Las Vegas, is a former resident of Mesquite, Texas. Paddock had connections to three different properties in Mesquite between 2004 and 2012. In 2010 Paddock declared his home address was in the 4800 block of Via Ventura, Mesquite, Texas. Between 2007 and 2010, Paddock rented a hangar at the Mesquite Metro Airport. He stored one plane at that location and he paid his rent on time. Airport files do not indicate any negative interactions with Paddock. There is no record that the Mesquite, Texas Police Department has ever dealt with Paddock in any way. Our thoughts and prayers continue to focus on the families of the victims in Las Vegas and the members of law enforcement who lost their lives in this tragedy."

At the Mesquite, Texas, airport Monday the airport manager said Paddock seemed to be a normal guy who enjoyed flying and spending time around the airport hangar.

"He wasn't a troublemaker. There is nothing in the file that indicated we had any issues with him. He just came out and flew his airplane and bought gas from us," said airport manager Cynthia Godfrey.

In a statement released Monday, Lockheed Martin said that Paddock once worked for a predecessor company in the 1980s. It was not clear from the statement whether he worked for the company's operations in North Texas or someplace else. The statement said that Lockheed was cooperating with authorities to answer any questions they might have about Paddock's time with the company.

Paddock's brother, Eric, acting as a spokesman for the family, said he was not aware of mental illness or any other reason for his brother's attack. He added he didn't think Stephen had any financial troubles, saying he had worked as an accountant and was a multimillionaire who made much of his money investing in real estate and said he was a very private person.

"There's no affiliations," he told NBC affiliate WESH. "There's no church. There's no religion. There's no politics. There's no anything."

Eric Paddock told reporters that he and his son have been in touch with federal investigators, corroborating text messages they had exchanged with Stephen. Eric said he had built computers for his brother, and he gave investigators possible passwords.

Eric also said he is hoping for a detailed autopsy on his brother, and he intimated he wants to know if anything was wrong with his brain. He referenced autopsies of football players' brains to look for signs of degenerative brain disease.

Country singer Jason Aldean was performing his headlining set at the open-air Route 91 Harvest Festival when the the shooting began.

SWAT teams quickly descended on the concert and the casino, and officers used explosives to get into the hotel room where the suspect was found dead inside, authorities said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued the following statement Monday after learning of the massacre.

The death toll in Las Vegas is the highest in modern American history, topping the 2016 shooting that left 49 dead at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

People who were at the Las Vegas music festival when the mass shooting occurred are telling horrific stories, including husband and wife Daniel and Jennie Rosales, who were working at the concert as ushers.

Police said they believe Paddock acted alone in the shooting. His girlfriend, a 62-year-old woman, was traveling out of the country when the shooting took place. Investigators said they do not believe she is involved in the attack but that they'd like to speak with her when she returns to the U.S.

There was no immediate word on the motive for the attack. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said there was no "specific credible threat" involving other public venues in the U.S. and there is no suspected ties to terrorism.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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