Why Gambler Stephen Paddock killed 59 innocent people in Las Vegas

Stephen Paddock killed 59 people and injured 520 more when he unloaded a semi-automatic from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.

Police know how it unfolded, but they still don’t know why it happened.

A huge question mark hangs over the motive as authorities try to understand what would make this seemingly successful property developer snap and kill so many innocent people.

Las Vegas Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said: ‘All of the checks that we have been able to do other than a routine traffic violation here in Nevada and nationwide working with our local FBI partners have been able to find no derogatory history on that individual.

‘It’s one of those really sad, tragic things that a man that’s 64 years old that really had no other reason that we can find at least in his history here to go out and wound that many people.’

Was he in huge gambling debt?

Paddock made several large gambling transactions in the lead up to the massacre, according to NBC News.

Some days he was gambling with $30,000 at Las Vegas casinos. It is not known if these are winnings or losses

Did religion or politics play a role?

According to Stephen’s brother, Eric, no — neither had anything to do with the killing spree.

Speaking in the aftermath of the shooting, he said: ‘If you told me an asteroid fell into Earth, it would mean the same to me. There’s absolutely no sense, no reason he did this.

‘He’s just a guy who played video poker and took cruises and ate burritos at Taco Bell. There’s no political affiliation that we know of. There’s no religious affiliation that we know of.’

Is it linked to Isis?

The terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack in the aftermath, saying Stephen converted to Islam months ago and was one of their ‘soldiers’.

However, authorities have sought to quash this theory, stressing that there is no evidence to suggest this is Isis-related in any way.

What about other factors?

Criminals run in the family.

Stephen’s father, Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, was a serial bank robber who ended up on the FBI’s most wanted list when he escaped from a Texas prison while serving a 20-year sentence.