Las Vegas massacre gunman Stephen Paddock was prescribed anti-anxiety drug diazepam that can lead to aggressive behaviour
LAS Vegas butcher Stephen Paddock was prescribed an anti-anxiety drug that can lead to aggressive behaviour, according to reports.
The gunman, who slaughtered 59 and wounded 527 others when he opened fire on a music festival on Sunday, bought 50 10-milligram tablets of diazepam in June.
Dr Steven Winkler prescribed the drugs - better known by its brand name Valium – according to the .
Paddock purchased the drug, without insurance, from a Walgreens in Reno.
The gambling addict was supposed to take one pill a day.
Diazepam is a sedative-hypnotic drug in the class of drugs known as benzodiazepines.
Studies have shown that the drug can trigger aggressive behaviour and fits of violence, rage, irritability and hostility.
Cops scrambling to find a motive for the massacre may look into whether Paddock was on any form of medication at the time of the mass shooting.
The killer’s brother broke down in tears as he told reporters he hoped doctors find a tumour in his brain to explain why he carried out the deadliest shooting in modern US history.
Eric Paddock said: “My heart is torn... is destroyed for all of these people. But I can't tell you why Steve did what he did. It's so far over the side of the cliff from the Steve that I knew.
“When Steve can do this we're in deep s**t because there's just nothing there.
“I hope to hell they find when they do an autopsy that there's a tumour in his head or something because if they don't we're all in trouble.”
It came as Paddock's girlfriend was met in a wheelchair by federal detectives after returning to the US.
Marilou Danley was named a "person of interest" as it was revealed Paddock wired £75k to her home country of the Philippines before the bloodbath.
Paddock owned two planes, regularly spoke to his family and lived a comfortable life in sleepy Mesquite, rural Nevada.
But the millionaire property developer also had a dark side – an obsession with gambling that saw him blow tens of thousands of dollars in Vegas casinos before the bloodbath.
Eric revealed the mass murderer was a “big fish” in the Vegas casinos.
“It's like a job for him. It's a job where you make money,” Eric said.
“He was at the hotel for four months one time. It was like a second home. He’s known. He's a top player. He's the small end of the big fish.”
In the days before the slaughter, Paddock had sometimes gambled more than £22,000 ($30,000) in the Vegas casinos, NBC reported.
On Sunday night, Paddock fired hundreds of rounds of ammo into the Route 91 music festival crowds from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel.
Cops are still "working to process the crime scene and investigate the motives of the shooter".
"Detectives are combing through evidence to uncover the shooter's motives and any other pertinent information that will help shed light on the Sunday night massacre."
Cops admitted they were not yet sure of the Vegas gunman’s motives, with Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo telling reporters: "We have no idea what his belief system was – I can't get into the mind of a psychopath."
But while the shooter himself had no criminal background, the same reportedly cannot be said for all his family.
Paddock’s father was Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, a serial bank robber.
The bandit is understood to have wound up on the FBI’s Most Wanted list in 1969 when he escaped from prison in Texas while serving a 20-year sentence.
Paddock’s brother Eric also said he was baffled, insisting his sibling had no religious or political affiliations and was just a regular guy who liked to gamble.
Some have pointed to his "high stakes poker playing" for six-figure sums as a potential trigger.
"I have absolutely no information he lost a bunch of money", Eric told reporters. "The casino would know that."
It comes after horrifying video showed blood-soaked concert-goers running in terror from the Route 91 country music festival after hundreds of rounds were fired from a nearby Mandalay Bay Resort Casino balcony.
Pictures show two smashed in windows at the luxury resort from where the shooter is believed to have let off a hail of deadly gunfire.
What we know so far:
- At least 59 people are dead and more than 500 are injured, making the attack the worst in US history
- The shooter has been named by police as Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, who was firing from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort Casino, and who was found dead
- 22,000 people had been attending the Route 91 country music festival, listening to Jason Aldean perform when the shots rang out just after 10pm on Sunday
- US President Trump slammed the attack as "pure evil", urging Americans to come together in solidarity
- Among the dead include a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer who was off duty. Two on-duty officers were also injured
Over a period of more than a minute at least four separate periods of sustained gunfire, believed to be from a high-powered assault rifle, were heard as hundreds of deadly rounds were unleashed into the crowd, which included children.
The death toll in the devastating attack, which began to unfold just after 10pm on Sunday night local time, surpasses the Orlando shooting at the Pulse nightclub last year, which saw 49 people killed.
Festival-goers were seen diving for cover as bullets whizzed overhead, with traumatised witnesses claiming they saw victims hit in the head.
The bullets would have created an echo effect around the tall buildings, adding to the terror and panic with people confused as to where the gunfire was coming from.
The shooter was found dead, believed to have killed himself, on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort after SWAT teams stormed the hotel room.
Paddock is believed to have been a grandfather, who lived in a remote desert home in Mesquite, 80 miles north-east of Las Vegas near the Arizona state border.
Although ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, the FBI said there was no evidence Paddock had any connection with international terror groups.
Police have made progress in their investigations, having located 62-year-old Marilou Danley who was wanted for questioning in the wake of the attack.
The Australian reported that Danley is believed to be a "gambling and casino professional".
Police said Paddock had been using Marilou's identification, but she was not believed to have been involved.
Two vehicles registered to the Paddock were also found.
Witnesses said they saw the tattered curtains of the hotel room as shots rang out across the concert.
Videos taken at the scene appear to capture bursts of gunfire heard in the area, with the 22,000 concert-goers ducking for cover and running for their lives.
Two police officers were among those shot, with at least one killed.
Grieving families have started to name other victims of the brutal atrocity with NEWS 4 revealing music lover Sonny Melton of West Tennessee was among those killed.
Concert-goers had desperately tried to help those injured, with one man telling people had tried to plug bullet-holes with their fingers.
Brit Holiday rep Samantha said: "At first I thought it was fireworks but then I heard screams as people were being shot.
"We all ducked down as low as we could, I was on the floor. It went on for 10 minutes but it felt like forever."
She added: "When I heard the loud bangs I thought that's cool they are putting on fireworks for the last night of the festival.
"But then there was a sudden wave of panic and we realised everyone was being shot at. The gunfire sounded really close, we just ducked down and prayed."
Samantha and her mum from Cardiff were being led off the platform when she saw the shot security guard.
She said: "He was less than 10 yards away from us - that's how close we were.
"I don't know if he was dead - we were just trying to get off where we were standing as quickly as we could.
"My mum was freaking out - it was a raised area and more exposed."
