Every terrorist or shooter doesn’t always come with obvious signs. For obvious reasons, they may not always announce the plan of their next assault, but they can often carry certain personality traits and symptoms of a perpetrator. From your next-door neighbor to office colleagues, it could be anybody who is unhappy, frustrated or depressed.
Stephen Paddock, the man who released hundreds of gunshots at a public concert from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas shooting on October 1, 2017, is now no more, and so we won’t ever know why he chose to fire his weapons. His acquaintances had never imagined him shooting at a country music event in Las Vegas. In this deadly massacre, he took lives of 59 people, including himself, and nearly 500 individuals got injured. While the investigators have still not determined the ulterior motive, here are the top 10 suspicious signs of Stephen Paddock:
- He deported his girlfriend to the Philippines before the attack
As per the reports, Paddock transferred around US$100,000 to his longtime girlfriend, Marilou Danley, and then desperately sent her back to the Philippines just before to Las Vegas shooting.
- He had a couple of unsuccessful marriages with no children
Stephen Paddock did not have an immediate family of his own. He got married twice, but both were big failures. Moreover, he didn’t have any children from those marriages. His relationship with his foreign girlfriend also seemed to be estranged.
- He was addicted to gambling
Stephen Paddock’s brother, Eric Paddock, recently revealed Stephen Paddock would often win anywhere around $250,000 from a single gambling session. Although his favourite game was video poker, he enjoyed gambling in all forms and formats. In fact, Eric reports that Stephen moved to Nevada just because gambling was legal there. Although Stephen was already a multimillionaire, he was an ace at making speculations and placing bets, and he loved to hit casinos and win whopping amounts.
- He may have had gambling debts
Although Stephen Paddock might have won up to $250,000 from his addictive gambling addiction, but as they say, the fortune never remains the same! There were rumors that he may have been badly stuck in debts a few months ago, and he wanted to release his frustration through this shoot.
- He was not close to any family or friend
It was beyond Stephen Paddock’s ability to form and maintain social bonds and connections. Besides being with his girlfriend, he mostly wanted to be in his own cocoon, and had distanced himself from the rest of the world. He was not in touch with his criminal father, and only spoke to his brother every few months. Moreover, he did not keep a close friendship with anyone from his professional circle. Although superficially, he seemed to voluntarily avoid connecting with others, there also seems to be a deep void of self-acceptance and confidence.
- He had no more ambitions or drive to live
Stephen Paddock was a retired and affluent accountant but he did not have much to live for. He was an unambitious and lonely soul lacking interest in anything or anybody around him. Experts suggest that it was this very boredom and addiction to mediocrity and idleness that led to the development of his evil plan.
- He was rumored to have inherited a mental illness
According to the investigators, Stephen Paddock may have inherited psychological illness from his father, Benjamin Hoskins Paddock. The latter was a serial bank robber who even made it to the FBI Most Wanted list back in the year 1969.
- He sued a casino for US$32,000 for a torn hamstring & sprained wrist
Yes, this is true! Back in 2012, Stephen Paddock sued a Las Vegas casino after tripping on an obstruction. As per Paddock’s claims, he suffered from a torn hamstring and sprained wrist, and further asked the authorities to pay US$32,000 to compensate for his medical expenses.
- He changed his religion
When a person is unable to find peace in his or her own current customs, practices, religion, and traditional values, they go for a switch. Same could be the case with Stephen Paddock. Some said that God didn’t exist for the gunman, while some claimed that he changed his religion to Islam just before he attacked Las Vegas.
- He had a ‘God Complex’
John Weinreich, the executive host of a renowned casino Atlantic Casino Resort and Spa reported that Stephen Paddock even used his analytical efforts to find the right machine in the casino. Weinreich noted that Paddock used to observe people more while placing small bets of $100 and beyond. He never had a talk with any of the fellow players, but paid utmost attention to his surroundings. The host further added that he had a ‘God Complex’ as he pressurized the staff with unreasonable demands, irrespective of the fact how occupied the staff was.
Each of the aforementioned signs, when considered individually, may not seem suspicious. But if we combine them all together, they carve out the picture of a person who had no reason to smile, or no reason to live. As he spent his most of his post-retirement life visiting casinos, gambling and speculating, it can be said that he had no agenda or purpose in life. The saying ‘an idle mind is a devil’s mind’ completely applies on Stephen Paddock, and at the same time, this incidence teaches all of us to be self-driven, disciplined, and excited about life, no matter what. We are humans and it’s largely beyond our reach to identify the to-be-terrorist or killer. However, to a large extent, we can have a control over ourselves, and it is upto us to keep our body, mind, and soul healthy.
