Bruce Paddock was arrested on child pornography charges on Oct. 25. Law enforcement sources said that before the arrest, Bruce Paddock bragged to residents in an assisted living facility about being related to Stephen Paddock.
An employee at the facility reviewed Bruce Paddock’s file and discovered that Stephen Paddock was listed as his emergency contact. The employee contacted the Los Angeles Police Department, thinking that the authorities will want to interview the man.
Once the police and FBI agents looked into Bruce Paddock’s profile, they discovered an outstanding warrant for child pornography and proceeded to arrest him. Paddock was charged with possessing 600 child pornography images.
Stephen Paddock allegedly carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history on Oct. 1. Police said Paddock fired 1,000 rounds from his 32nd-floor hotel window into a crowd attending an open-air country music festival below, killing 58 people and injuring more than 500 before turning the gun on himself.
TMZ reports that Bruce Paddock evaded arrest for the pornography charges for two years, using techniques that authorities called “evil smart.”
Sources told TMZ that Paddock changed his appearance and moved around often to get the police off his tail. The man even set up cameras around his properties, reminiscent of what his now-dead brother did on the 32nd-floor suite in Mandalay Bay.
Police discovered evidence that Bruce Paddock possessed child pornography after he was evicted from a Sun Valley home. The criminal complaint states that the crimes he committed occurred in 2014.
Paddock was seen in a wheelchair when he was arrested. His arraignment was delayed last week due to an undisclosed medical issue. Paddock pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Bruce Paddock was interviewed by news outlets shortly after the mass shooting. It is unclear how reporters could locate him on short notice while investigators couldn’t catch him for two years.