The brother of Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, who has been identified by police as the gunman responsible for killing 58 and injuring 527 during a country music concert in Las Vegas is still in shock as to what happened to have led him into committing such act.
Stephen opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino Sunday night, as concertgoers took cover or ran for their lives. He turned the gun on himself before police stormed his hotel room.
Tuesday evening, the Clark County coroner John Fudenberg clarified that Paddock’s death was included in the previously reported death total of 59.
“This is a horror, just a horror story in every possible way,” Eric Paddock said. “It’s the bad twist at the end of a good movie.”
Choking back tears while speaking with reporters outside his East Orlando home Tuesday, Paddock wondered aloud if there was something he could have done to stop his brother.
“This is what I’ll carry for the rest of my life: Had I called him back instead of texting, would I have heard something in his voice? Would he have given up something? I don’t know. I can’t say,” .
Paddock said this referring to a text he got from his brother after Hurricane Irma asking if their mom was OK. “That’s what I’m going to carry for the rest of my life, that maybe I could have intervened.”
Alongside guilt, Paddock and his family are juggling grief.
“Nobody wants to hear this, but I’m as touched by this … my brother’s dead. He’s dead. And I like my brother. He was a good guy,” Paddock said. “And I know nobody wants to hear this, but damn, if you knew Steve.”