Father of Stephen Paddock, the man behind the killing of 59 people in Las Vegas yesterday, was a notorious bank robber who was once on FBI's most wanted list after escaping from a federal prison in Texas in 1968.
Benjamin Hoskins Paddock tried to run down an FBI agent with his car in Las Vegas in 1960. An FBI wanted poster issued after his escape said his father Benjamin Paddock had been "diagnosed as psychopathic."
The FBI warning about the elder Paddock said he should be considered "armed and very dangerous." He had been serving a 20-year sentence for a string of Phoenix bank robberies.
Benjamin Hoskins Paddock died in 1998.
Stephen Paddock's brother, Eric, confirmed their father's identity in an interview Monday with The Orlando Sentinel.
Eric said tephen was once a multimillionaire real-estate investor who liked to travel to Las Vegas to play high-stakes video poker.
Stephen, the oldest son of Benjamin, killed at least 59 people in Las Vegas in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. More than 500 were wounded in Paddock's attack on the Route 91 Harvest Festival, where country music star Jason Aldean was performing for more than 22,000 fans.
The 64-year-old gunman killed himself in the hotel room before authorities arrived.
Public records offered no hint of financial distress or criminal history. Eric Paddock, who spoke with reporters outside his home near Orlando, Florida, said even if his brother had been in financial trouble, the family could have bailed him out.
He described his brother as a multimillionaire and said they had business dealings and owned property together. He said he was not aware that his brother had gambling debts.
Stephen Paddock bought his one-story, three-bedroom home in a newly built Mesquite subdivision for $369,000, in 2015, property records show. Past court filings and recorded deeds in California and Texas suggest he co-owned rental property.
He has been divorced at least twice, including marriages that ended in 1980 and 1990. One of the ex-wives lives in Southern California, where a large gathering of reporters congregated in her neighborhood. Los Angeles police Sgt. Cort Bishop said she did not want to speak with journalists. He relayed that the two had not been in contact for a long time and did not have children.
(With AP inputs)
