Las Vegas Shooting: Perpetrator’s Brother

We are going through some very tough days in the U.S. with this deadly mass shooting. It’s hard to wrap your brain around. I think Jimmy Kimmel gave an excellent speech on Monday night. If you didn’t see it, you can see it here.

Being emotional and dealing with this, people will read people differently. Emotions will skew our ability to see things clearly. We may see something when something isn’t there, or we may miss it when it is there. Be careful you don’t fall victim to your own emotional influence. Take notice.

I am sure when people watch the brother of shooter speak out, people will see it very different.

When you watch Eric Paddock, the brother of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, speak the day after his brother went on that rampage, what do you see? I suspect we will have a broad array of responses.

18 replies
  1. Jennifer Kindschi
    Jennifer Kindschi says:

    From watching this video of the brother I get the sense of a family man who is financially successful and “surfacey”. I don’t think he knew much about his brother because he didn’t want to be bothered with the oddball black sheep of the family. Someone in shock I think will still show their underlying emotions. In this case I would think it would be remorse for the victims at the very least. A feeling which looks deflated and sorrowful. But this brother is amped up, defensive, talks in nervous fits and starts, and deflects people to collect answers to their questions from public records rather than immediate family. Hhmmmm….

    • Marcia Shoberg
      Marcia Shoberg says:

      Good observation. I agree. He seems conflicted between worrying about what people think of him, and disclosure of what he knows.

    • BlueSpruce
      BlueSpruce says:

      If you watched the long video, he said over and over that his brother was an extremely private person who did not discuss his private life or go on social media. There was nothing about “oddball black sheep of the family.” Stephen Paddock indulged his relatives and friends. He made them “wealthy” according to this brother Eric. Listening to the long video can be frustrating but it’s much more revealing of words, emotions, body language and expressions, and his take on things. It is very repetitive, though, so prepare to be frustrated.

      • Jennifer Kindschi
        Jennifer Kindschi says:

        I got a chance to watch the longer video and I completely agree with you. It left me with a much different feeling than the shorter snippet of a video. Clearly Eric is grieving, which I didn’t see in the shorter vid. He couldn’t fake the big snot glob that blew onto his moustache. Stephen seems to be the closest to a fatherly role model that Eric had.
        But I do still have the impression that Eric is a surfacy guy, being that he went on and on about his brother’s wealth and how he spread the wealth. Eric himself seems like he also is a bit “off the beaten path” socially. I feel that the family endured an abysmal childhood and Stephens extreme intelligence accompanied by a feeling of familial responsibility saved them and turned their family into the American dream. Except it doesn’t really work that way below the surface. Once this family achieved this American dream I think they probably thought all the ugly parts could be swept under the rug, never to be seen again. But it always bubbles up somewhere.
        Maybe Stephen didn’t achieve the “$crew you, world” feeling he wanted when he used his mind to make all that money and felt that he needed to destroy instead….

  2. ronni
    ronni says:

    IMO, he is saying too much of nothing. Shock? Maybe…but he hums and haws a lot. One of those wide-eyed takes might be believable, but not a succession of them. Is that his phone that keeps going off? Why isn’t it shut off for the interview? He seems torn between liking the limelight and not wanting to speak out of turn.

  3. Lee Cockrell
    Lee Cockrell says:

    It’s a bit of both from him, shock AND hiding something. When he says no political or religious motivation, I believed him. The rest is very stressed and scattered. It seems he knew his brother was off in some way, but doesn’t want to say it.

  4. Karen Harbaugh
    Karen Harbaugh says:

    He’s in shock, trying to figure it out himself, trying to search his own memories and mind for any clues. I’ve acted in the same exact way when I’ve been confronted with shocking news regarding friends or family. A lot of repetition, gestures, etc., because you don’t have the words to describe what’s going through your head, and you’re going through what you do know, trying to figure it out. But each time, you come up short. So all you can do is gesture and repeat.

    He might well have known something was “off” about his brother, but not something as extreme as that.

    I do see sadness in his face, definitely.

  5. Julia Calhoun
    Julia Calhoun says:

    He seems fake to me, as if he’s overacting. The WIDE eyes look like he wants to make sure nobody misses his surprise, or he has some sort of mental illness. I wonder what went on in this family…

    • BlueSpruce
      BlueSpruce says:

      As I stated on another Eyes for Lies page, his father was a psychopath, a convict and on the 10 most wanted list when this guy was a child.

      • dormouse
        dormouse says:

        I was just reading this too. Also, another brother Bruce threatened to kill a friend and sold meth. When you put the little we know together, if you were raised by a bank robber and had a one violent, meth selling brother, would this really come as that much of a surprise?
        My first impression was his shock was fake, and the bugged out eyes repeatedly was a clue. And yes, the turtle effect! I want to learn more about that. Also he says “I got nothing.” Um, how about horror and emotion over the killed and injured victims?! You really got nothing?!

    • cannedam
      cannedam says:

      They pulled it off youtube, but it’s here. That is very very strange. There is something so off about this guy.

    • clownfish
      clownfish says:

      I can’t tell really. I’m buying his reaction. But I’m not good at this and am sick of not being good at it. I wish very much I didn’t care to know if people are being real or not. Gets old wanting to know and never knowing.

    • BlueSpruce
      BlueSpruce says:

      The more I listen, the more repulsed I become. He talks all over the place, giving out way too much information that would not be considered relevant to the investigation. A lot of it sounds like bragging, but I don’t think he’s quite fully aware that he’s bragging. It’s more a subconscious urge to impress. His tone is overly dramatic and defensive. The only thing I could think of to justify this show of behavior is if he’s being continually harassed, which is likely.

  6. DMD
    DMD says:

    With Eric Paddock, I see a man who is on the verge of breaking down soon. He is in more than shock over what his brother did, evidenced by his twitching, repeated gestures, and difficulty expressing himself. He is devastated but can’t allow himself to feel that right now. His world is blowing up around him. He is likely using all his emotional strength to keep it together for his family.

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