People leave messages at a makeshift memorial for victims of a shooting, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017, in Las Vegas. Authorities said Stephen Craig Paddock broke windows on the Mandalay Bay casino and began firing with a cache of weapons, killing dozens and injuring hundreds at the festival. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Monday, Jan. 28, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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A San Francisco software executive has donated more than $62,000 to try to ensure that the cache of firearms that was owned by the gunman in the Las Vegas massacre will be destroyed.
In the aftermath of the 2017 shooting, loved ones of the 58 people who lost their lives in the rampage faced a difficult choice over what to do with the 50 guns and accessories that were owned by the gunman, Stephen Paddock. They could either sell the weapons to raise money or have the guns destroyed in a symbolic renunciation of violence.
Now the families don’t have to worry about making that decision — the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, has stepped in to cover the funds. His only condition is that the guns are destroyed.
The collection of firearms and equipment was valued at $62,340 in a recent inventory of Paddock’s nearly $1.4 million estate by a court-appointed special administrator. As Paddock died without a will, his mother, under Nevada law, became the heir to his assets, which she agreed to give to the families of the dead victims last March.
After reading a New York Times article about the families’ gun dilemma that was published this month, the California businessman decided to write a check to the families for $62,500. He contacted a reporter at The Times so he could get in touch with the lawyer for the special administrator of the estate.
“It was tugging at my heart strings, and it seemed like a horrific situation for the families to deal with this choice,” he said in an interview. “I wanted to alleviate some of the pain or at least not allow it to get worse.”
The executive said he wants the donation to be anonymous because the focus should be on the families.
“No credit in the face of pain,” he said. “This was about heartbreak and wanting to help.”
He said he made the donation conditional on the destruction of the firearms — which range from pistols to high-powered long arms — to ensure they do not end up back in circulation.
“I think the families would feel better if the weapons are gone,” he said.
Alice Denton, the lawyer for the special administrator of the estate, said the FBI, which is in possession of the firearms, had given a verbal commitment it would destroy the weapons if it received a court order to do so. She said she would seek such an order next month from the Las Vegas judge overseeing the estate case. In the meantime, no action to destroy the guns would be taken.
A spokeswoman for the FBI’s Las Vegas field office said the bureau was unable to comment.
The executive — who said he favors stronger gun control but does not consider himself “an anti-gun activist” — said if it turns out that the FBI will not destroy the firearms, he would try to find another way to have it done.
Denton said she received the check last week and was delighted about the donor’s generosity.
“We are so grateful,” she said. “It shows the compassion that total strangers can have for victims of horrendous crimes, and that, in the face of such evil, there are good people.”
Mynda Smith, whose sister was killed in the attack, said the donor’s gesture and his desire to see the guns destroyed would help relatives like her deal with their sorrow.
“His desire to alleviate any more emotional pain for the families of the 58, and all survivors really, is what makes it a beautiful thing,” Smith said. “Closing this door in this way is the perfect gift for us.”
Denton said the check has been deposited in her trust account and would be transferred to the estate once the guns are destroyed.
Nearly half the guns in question — 23 rifles and a revolver — were found in the gunman’s upper-floor room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, according to the estate inventory.
It was from that perch at the hotel that he opened fire on an outdoor country music festival. Not only were dozens of people slaughtered, hundreds of others were injured in the worst mass shooting in modern American history.
The rest of the gunman’s firearms were in his two Nevada homes. At his house in Mesquite, seven rifles, seven shotguns and five handguns were collected. The estate recently sold that property to an Oregon couple for $425,000.
And two shotguns and five handguns were found at the gunman’s Reno home, which is still listed on the market for $374,900.
Lawyers for some of the victims have said that distributing the money to only the loved ones of the dead meant it could have a far greater impact on their lives than if the large number of people hurt in the attack were also beneficiaries.
If the gunman’s estate were to be divided up equally, each of the 58 families would receive about $24,000 — with the firearms accounting for close to $1,100 per family. The estate also includes an investment property worth a little more than $90,000 and bank and brokerage accounts totaling $455,758.
One family, who intends to sue the manufacturers of the guns used in the shooting, would like to see those weapons kept intact rather than destroyed.
Through a lawyer, the family of Carrie Parsons, who was killed in the attack, has reached out to Denton.
“What we are saying is ‘Please don’t destroy these, they are evidence,” said one of the family’s lawyers, Rick Friedman, who added that he had not yet been able to identify those firearms.
“Destroying guns he did not use, I have no problem with,” Friedman said.
The anonymous executive said he would not want to stand in the way of a legal action like this.
“If there is a delay in destroying some of the guns for legal reasons, I am OK with that,” he said. “I just don’t want them back on the streets.”
