Stephen Paddock
American mass murderer (1953–2017)
Stephen Craig Paddock (April 9, 1953 – October 1, 2017) was an American mass murderer who perpetrated the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the deadliest mass shooting and one of the worst mass murders in American history.
Paddock grew up in a poor household and began his career as an auditor before becoming wealthy from investing in and managing apartment buildings. At the time of the shooting, Paddock was a hobby pilot and an avid video poker gambler who lived reclusively in Mesquite, Nevada. On October 1, 2017, Paddock opened fire into a crowd of about 22,000 concertgoers attending a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip, killing 60 people and injuring approximately 867 (at least 413 of whom were wounded by gunfire). Paddock killed himself in his suite at the Mandalay Bay hotel following the shooting. Paddock's motive remains officially unknown, and the possible factors are the subject of speculation.
Early years and education
Paddock was born on April 9, 1953, in Clinton, Iowa, where his family lived at the time. He was the oldest of four sons of Benjamin Paddock and Dolores Hudson. Shortly after his birth, his family relocated to Tucson, Arizona. Benjamin was a bank robber who was arrested in Arizona in 1960 when Stephen was seven years old.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Stephen Paddock” is american mass murderer (1953–2017). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Stephen, Paddock and American, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american mass murderer (1953–2017)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q41529365. VIAF identifies the subject as 6043151112584337180006. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 2017 and 1960.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Stephen Paddock”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Stephen Paddock primary sources, Stephen Paddock archive and Stephen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Stephen Paddock”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Stephen Paddock” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.