Brother Of Accused Las Vegas Gunman Says He Was A Multi-Millionaire
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ORLANDO (CBSMiami/AP) -- The brother of the accused Las Vegas shooter says his brother was a multi-millionaire who made a lot of his money investing in real estate.
Eric Paddock, who is currently residing in Orlando, spoke about his brother Stephen Paddock and said he was "shocked" about what police say his brother did.
"An asteroid just fell on me," said Eric outside his home.
He said his brother, a retired accountant, lived a comfortable life taking cruises and gambling.
"Had we known that there was a problem with Steph, we would have tried to do something.There's just no indication."
Eric said he was not aware of his brother having any financial problems.
His brother said , as far as they knew, had no religious or political affiliation and no history of mental illness.
"We have absolutely no clue why this happened," said Eric who added the last time he spoke to his brother was after Hurricane Irma.
"He texted me to ask about my mom after the hurricane, we didn't have power for 5 days. I mean he called her up to talk to her about how it was. He sent her a, he sent her a walker because she's having trouble walking now. I mean there's no…I mean there's just nothing," said Eric.
He said his brother called him to check on him and their 90-year-old mother in the sunshine state after the storm last month.
"Find out where he got the machine guns," Eric told reporters.
His brother, Stephen, once lived in a gated community in Viera - just North of Melbourne, according to records and kept it for only two years - selling it back in 2015.
Nick Anderson said he never met Stephen when the accused mass killer sold him his Viera house.
"I had no conversation with him, I had never seen him," Anderson said.
Paddock visited five or six times, the two years he lived there.
"He always called us beforehand let us know he'd be here," said former neighbor Sharon Judy, who did know him. "He just seemed like a normal person. He told us he lived in Las Vegas and had a place in Texas and California."
"This is such a nice peaceful community to hear that there could be any kind of person that could do such a heinous crime, it's hard to believe," said former neighbor Rebecca Carver, who said she was told Stephen had bought the home as an investment property.
Carver said when she looked at the home it was empty of furniture.
And when he and his girlfriend moved into Viera, Judy said they gave her a spare set of keys and politely ask that she watch over the house when he wasn't there.
"He was very friendly. The only thing that was strange was he was very upfront that he was a professional gambler and that was how he made his money," Judy said.
Their father was - at one point- was on the FBI's most wanted list after escaping from a Texas prison in the late 1960s.
Eric said they had little to do with their father.
"He was a fat, bad guy. He was not someone that we hung out with," said Eric.
Their mother, according to Eric, is "totally dumbstruck," after she found out her son, Stephen, is accused of shooting and killing at least 59 people and injuring 500 more at a country music festival on the Las Vegas strip just outside Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino Sunday night.
Country music singer Jason Aldean was performing at the time, when police say, Stephen Paddock opened fire from his hotel room across the street. Stephen later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police believe he acted alone and his motive is still unclear.
"They're going to autopsy him I hope, real carefully because Steph doesn't do this," said Eric.
This is now the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. History. Before Sunday's shooting, the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in June 2016 was the deadliest in the United States.
If you are trying to locate missing loved ones who were at the Las Vegas concert where the deadly shooting happened, please call 1-866-535-5654.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
