Who was the 64-year-old who shot into a crowd of Las Vegas concertgoers, killing dozens? As police investigate the massacre, details of the man behind the trigger have begun to emerge.
Image: Getty Images/E.Miller
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The alleged gunman was a former accountant, a white US citizen by the name of Stephen Paddock. He lived in a retirement community in Mesquite, about 130 kilometers from Las Vegas, where he had bought a house in 2015.
Paddock had no children. He was single, though he had been married and divorced twice. According to records, he was living with a woman in his new home. Authorities say she was not involved in the attack that killed at least 59 people.
He seems not to have had a criminal history or police record, but his father was a bank robber wanted by the FBI in the late 1960s.
He had hunting and fishing licenses, a private pilot's license and he allegedly owned an aircraft.
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Sketchy details
His brother Eric Paddock has been quoted as saying Stephen Paddock was a successful multi-millionaire real estate investor who owned apartments and houses. He is quoted as saying his brother was a big spender who played high-stakes video poker.
Eric Paddock told news outlets that his brother had no religious or political affiliation. He said he remembered him having a few handguns, but no automatic weapons.
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Interviews with former neighbors in a retirement community in Florida revealed that people were surprised he was involved with guns. They remembered him as portraying himself as a gambler and real estate speculator, and that he was not home much.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters that investigators had found a large cache of weapons at Paddock's home, including 18 firearms, explosives and several thousand rounds of ammunition.
Eric Paddock, the gunman's brother, is dumbfoundedImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/J. Raoux
Large amounts of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer often used to make explosives, were also found in the shooter's car, according to the sheriff.
"We have no idea what his belief system was," Lombardo said. "I can't get into the mind of a psychopath."
He added that Paddock had no criminal record and was not known to police before the attack.
FBI spokesman Aaron Rouse said investigators had found no immediate evidence linking the incident to an international terror group. This followed an uncorroborated claim from the quasi-official news outlet for the "Islamic State" several hours after the attack, saying that Paddock was a Muslim convert and had attacked on its behalf.
Las Vegas shooting - what we know so far
Heavy shooting at a concert in Las Vegas has resulted in mass casualties, with the shooter reportedly killing himself. Police are now looking for clues of what is behind the shootings.
Image: Getty Images/A.Wong
Shooter targets crowd in Las Vegas
Police say 59 people have been killed and more than 500 injured in a shooting in Las Vegas. Officers were called to a music festival near the Mandalay Bay Casino on the US city's famous Strip late Sunday after reports of a mass shooting.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/John Locher
People flee the area
The Las Vegas police department asked people to leave or avoid the area, while sealing off roads leading to the scene. People attending the Route 91 Harvest country music festival reported seeing and hearing what they described as automatic gunfire coming from the Mandalay Bay hotel.
Image: Getty Images/D. Becker
Gunman identified as local resident
Police identified the shooter as 64-year-old Nevada resident Stephen Paddock, but said they had no information about his motive. He reportedly had 10 different firearms in his hotel room, and police found more guns and ammunition in his house.
Image: Getty Images/E. Miller
Police says shooter killed himself
The suspect fired from a window on the 32nd floor of the Las Vegas hotel into the crowd gathered below, said Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo (pictured above). Police said the gunman likely killed himself before the SWAT team broke into the room.
Some 22,000 people were in the crowd when Paddock opened fire, sparking a panic and a stampede. "It sounded like fireworks. People were just dropping to the ground," said one of the concert-goers.
Image: Getty Images/D. Becker
Police search
While Las Vegas police said they believed the suspect was the sole shooter, Lombardo said investigators want to talk with Paddock's girlfriend and live-in companion Marilou Danley. The Australian woman is reported to be traveling abroad - and has meanwhile been ruled out as a "person of interest."
Image: Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/S. Marcus
'Beyond horrific'
Several off-duty police officers had been attending the music festival and at least two had been killed, Lombardo said. Country singer Jason Aldean, who was performing when the shooting started, posted on Instagram saying his thoughts were with those affected. He described the night as "beyond horrific."
Image: Getty Images/E. Miller
Deadliest mass shooting in US history
The Las Vegas attack is the deadliest shooting in modern US history, exceeding the toll of 49 dead in an attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida in June 2016.
Image: Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/S. Marcus
A moment of silence
President Donald Trump on Tuesday called the gunman a "very, very sick individual." He ordered the American flags at all public buildings across the nation be flown at half-staff, and observed a moment of silence on the White House lawn. Asked about gun laws, the president said: "We'll be talking about gun laws as time goes on."
