MESQUITE, Nev. _ He was a former accountant who moved to the Las Vegas area two years ago, drawn by a love of video poker.
He lived in a brand-new housing tract in the golfing community of Sun City Mesquite north of Las Vegas, where one law enforcement source said he was a known gambler.
But family members and neighbors said they saw nothing in Stephen Paddock's past that would suggest a man who would open fire from a hotel tower, killing more than 50 people in the worst mass shooting in modern American history.
"We are completely dumbfounded," said his brother Eric Paddock, who lives east of Orlando, Fla. "We can't understand what happened."
Eric Paddock, speaking outside his home in Waterford Lakes, said his brother was never violent. He never was in the military, had no history of mental illness and had no known ties to extremist groups.
His brother had some guns but never a machine gun or an automatic weapon, Eric Paddock said.
"He's never even drawn his gun before," he said. "He's just a guy."
Stephen Paddock, 64, had roots in Southern California, where he once worked for Lockheed Martin's predecessor as an internal auditor in 1980s and, according to his former brother-in-law, was an accountant.
Outside the Cerritos home of Peggy Paddock, the ex-wife of the shooter, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Cort Bishop told reporters the two divorced more than 27 years ago. They were married for about six years and had no children, he said.
"She hasn't had any recent contact with him at all," Bishop said. "It's been many, many years."
Paddock's former brother-in-law, Scott Brunoehler, remembers the gunman as a smart, fun-loving person.
Paddock was a young man thriving in Southern California when he was married to Brunoehler's sister, Sharon, in the 1970s and early 1980s, Brunoehler said in an interview.
"Oh, he was a smart guy. He had a good job, he was a great guy actually," Brunoehler said.
Brunoehler, 62, said he hasn't spoken to Paddock since he divorced his sister.
"He seemed like a normal, good guy. I don't remember anything bad back then at all," he said. "I'm still in shock."
Law enforcement authorities early Monday swarmed Paddock's Mesquite home.
Mesquite Police Officer Quinn Averett said police investigators are waiting on an FBI forensic team to go through the home. Neighbors were ordered to evacuate their homes as a precaution. Paddock lived with a woman who may have been his girlfriend, they said. He said the community where Paddock lived is relatively new, about a year old.
"We didn't have prior run-ins with him, we didn't have any traffic stops, we didn't have any arrests of any kind," Averett said. "It's a newer home, a newer subdivision, a nice clean home, nothing out of the ordinary."
Authorities say Paddock fired onto a crowd at a concert Sunday night from a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel across the street. He killed himself before a SWAT team burst in, they said. Officials discovered at least 10 rifles in his hotel room.
"Right now we believe it's a solo act, a lone wolf attacker," Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said.
Eric Paddock said he helped his brother move to Las Vegas from Viera, Fla., in Brevard County in 2015 to escape Florida's humidity. The move would allow him to play more video poker, he said.
Stephen Paddock bought the house new in Viera, which is north of Melbourne, Fla., in 2013 and sold it 2015 for $235,000, property records show.
Former neighbor Sharon Judy said she met Paddock when she moved into the neighborhood around the same time as he did.
She said he described himself as a world traveler and "professional gambler by trade" and said he once showed her a picture of himself winning a $20,000 slot-machine jackpot.
Judy said she was shocked when she heard the news on the radio and didn't know the neighborhood connection to the shooting until reporters came knocking on her door.
"He was friendly all the time," she said.
Eric Paddock said the last time he communicated with his brother was when Stephen Paddock texted to ask about power outages after Hurricane Irma. Eric Paddock said his brother talked to their 89-year-old mother a couple of weeks ago to check up on her after the hurricane, and he also bought her a new walker.
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