Sadly, you know the drill. A horrific mass shooting incident at the hands of a white male grips the nation. Our (alleged) elected leaders will fail to call the shooter a terrorist. Within hours, family members of the terrorist will express shock to the press. Gun laws, however, will remain unchanged.
By early Monday morning, the family of 64-year-old Stephen Paddock—identified by police as the shooter responsible for the death of at least 58 people during a Las Vegas music festival Sunday night—had expressed those aforementioned feelings of shock.
"We have no idea how or why this happened," Eric Paddock, Stephen's brother, toldABC News Monday. "We don't understand." Eric added the family was "dumbstruck" by the shooting and claimed that, as authorities continue their investigation into his brother's past, "there will be nothing to be found."
In a separate interview with CBS News, Eric described his brother as "not an avid gun guy at all."
Though the motive for Stephen Paddock's actions remains unclear, he has been confirmed as a former employee of a company that later became defense contractor Lockheed Martin. "We're cooperating with authorities to answer questions they may have about Mr. Paddock and his time with the company," a Lockheed rep said Monday. Paddock worked for a Lockheed "predecessor company" from 1985 until 1988.
Stephen Paddock also worked as "an accountant or auditor," according to ABC News. Paddock, a licensed hunter and pilot, also owned aircraft. A search of the shooter's residence following Sunday night's mass shooting resulted in the discovery of additional weapons.
