The father of Las Vegas shooting suspect Stephen Paddock had his own trouble with the law. He was a member of the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
A March 1969 FBI Wanted poster said escaped bank robber, car thief and con man Patrick Benjamin Paddock, also known as Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, had been “diagnosed as psychopathic, has carried firearms in commission of bank robberies. He reportedly has suicidal tendencies and should be considered armed and very dangerous.”
A hulking six-foot-four, 245-pound frame with a balding pate made Paddock a fearsome sight, easy to imagine being called “Big Daddy” (one of the nicknames listed on the poster) and difficult to imagine being called “Chromedome” or “Old Baldy” (two other nicknames) — at least to his face.
Paddock, made the FBI’s Most Wanted List in June 1969, four months after the issuing of a federal warrant for his arrest on escape charges. Paddock remained on the list until he was found May, 5, 1977.
He was reportedly put on the list after escaping from a Texas prison and robbing a bank.
The FBI had no comment on Benjamin Paddock.
He died in January 18, 1998 in Tarrant, Texas.
Six years later, 51 miles away, his son bought his first property in Mesquite, Texas.
Stephen Paddock, 64, has been accused of killing 58 people from his hotel room in Las Vegas before killing himself.
David J. Neal: 305-376-3559, @DavidJNeal
This story was originally published October 02, 2017 3:19 PM.