'I can get you help': Disturbing letters show Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock's pal begging him not to 'hurt innocent people'
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: Jim Nixon, an ex-convict, and friend of Stephen Paddock, the perpetrator of the deadliest mass shooting in US history in 2017, wrote to Paddock on multiple occasions prior to the shocking event. In his letters to Paddock, Nixon, a 75-year-old crippled Vietnam War veteran, who was reportedly once jailed for tax fraud, begged him not to "shoot innocent people."
In response to a records request from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the letters were made public by the Las Vegas Police Department. They provide insight into Paddock's mental state before the shooting. Even as Nixon offered help, he voiced worry over his friend's unsettling mindset, which he thought would motivate him to commit something "very bad."
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'You said in three years you would be ready'
Nixon pleaded with Paddock not to carry out his threats to carry out the carnage months before Paddock opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas in 2017, killing 60 people and injuring over 860 more. In one of the ominous letters from August 2014, Nixon wrote: "You said in three years you would be ready and that your plan would show up in Nevada, California, Illinois, Texas, New York, and other cities... What do you mean?"
'I can get someone for you who can help you'
In May 2017, Nixon wrote another letter alluding to Paddock's unsettling spending spree, saying, "You must be going on a hunting trip with all those guns you are stockpiling." Three weeks later, in another letter revealed by the Las Vegas outlet, Nixon again pleaded with Paddock to seek help before he went through with his sinister threats. “I can get someone for you who can help you,”
Nixon's fears over Paddock's mental state are evident throughout the letters, including one where he wrote, "My friend it sounds like you are going to kill or murder someone or some people." Despite his concerns, Nixon never notified authorities because he "didn't know Paddock was going to do anything," and "couldn't read his mind."
'Use your head don't do anything stupid'
An expert from one of the letters obtained by the Las Vegas-Review Journal writes, "...Use your head don't do anything stupid and please don't go around shooting people. I figure out what you are going to do and I strongly advise you not to do it. You have been stockpiling guns since 2013 and you even claim you were going to become a gun collector. What is wrong buddy?... Steve, you said that I was the one who kept you from doing something bad for the past 4 years... PLEASE don't hurt innocent PEOPLE, I beg you."
Paddock, a retired postal service worker, accountant, and real estate investor who was a known high-stakes gambler, was the son of a notorious "psychopath" bank robber who was once on the FBI's most wanted list. The FBI released a report in January 2019, over a year on from the shooting, detailing their investigation into his motive, finding "no single or clear motivating factor."