Rick, a Marine police who claimed to be a former neighbour of Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas mass murderer, has insisted that the man was set up, adding that he (Paddock) was never a murderer.
Rick said the man was “100% not the kind of guy” to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in US history.
Paddock, a 64-year-old retiree, allegedly murered 58 people and injuring more than 500 with an arsenal of “high powered” weapons from his hotel room.
The murderous attack was carried out on music festival revelers, an action which has confused his family, friends and neighbours, who have described him as an “ordinary guy.”
Daily Star UK reports that Rick, who claims to have lived close to Paddock in Mesquite, Nevada, for eight months, in an interview with US radio show, The Savage Nation, refused to believe the accountant was responsible for the bloodbath.
Rick said Paddock was a “really nice guy” who “waved all the time.”
He said, “I’m no longer in Mesquite, I’m in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but I was his neighbour for about seven or eight months in Mesquite.
“I can tell you 100% that this is not the kind of guy.
“I was there working and I saw him pretty much every other day on my way home.”
Rick said Paddock, a millionaire real estate magnate and gambler, used to “drink a few beers” and play the slot machines at a local bar in the area.
Stunned by his comments, talk show host Michael Savage reminded Rick that Paddock “just committed the greatest mass murder in America history.”
Rick then asked, “Are you sure it was him?”
“I’m 100% positive; I know exactly who the guy is.
“I was in the Marine Corps, and I’ve talked to this guy personally, we’ve drank beer together. We would just talk about nonsense stuff.
“I told him I was in the Marine Corps, but he never ever told me he owned a gun.”
Rick claimed that he has spoken to Las Vegas police to tell them “everything I know”
Adding, “I’m not a big conspiracy theory guy but it doesn’t sit right, I know this guy. I’ve drank beer with this guy.
“It’s a set up. It know that sounds weird but it’s got to be a set up.
When asked if the body in the room may not be the shooter, Rick replied “exactly” without giving evidence.”
