Residents in the Heritage Isle neighborhood of Viera reacted with disbelief Monday after learning that their former neighbor was behind the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
“What would cause somebody to do something like this? asked Sharon Judy from her kitchen.
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Judy said Stephen Paddock was very neighborly when the two first met in 2013. They had moved in next door around the same time.
“He seemed like a regular retired person. There wasn’t anything that would indicate this. That he had this kind of mentality," said Judy.
Paddock told Judy he had bought the home as an investment, and wouldn’t be there all the time.
“Texted us before he came to town so if you see lights don’t worry about it. He’d always stop over and say hi when he was here and before he left he would text or come by and say ‘I’m leaving the house is empty keep an eye on it,’ " recalled Judy.
Although he wasn’t in town often, Judy says Paddock didn’t keep to himself.
“He was not secretive. He was very open that he was a professional gambler at one point it came up and he would talk to us that’s what he did for a living. Nothing secretive at all.”
Judy says Paddock lived next door for about two years. She said Paddock had talked with her husband about when would be the right time to move.
“The day he moved out he came and said goodbye, we shook hands and that was that," she said.
“I don’t know, you just have to wonder about anybody," said Judy.
