美国国家公共电台 NPR Las Vegas Shooter's Life Comes Into Focus, But Not His Motive

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Investigators¹ in Las Vegas continue to analyze² the evidence they've gathered from the homes of the man who attacked a crowded concert Sunday night. They've learned a lot about Stephen Paddock's past and preparations. But so far, there's little to explain why he destroyed so many lives. From Las Vegas, NPR's Howard Berkes reports.

HOWARD BERKES, BYLINE³: Monday morning in the sunny and serene⁴ retirement⁵ community of Sun City Mesquite, Ken⁶ Russell (ph) was out for a walk. The retired⁷ wildlife biologist had heard the news about the carnage in Las Vegas the night before and the fact the shooter had lived in the neighborhood.

KEN RUSSELL: Everybody would be totally shocked at it. This is a quiet neighborhood. All of them up here in Sun City are quiet. People are too old to make any commotion⁸.

BERKES: That was the first surprise for investigators - that a 64-year-old man and apparently⁹ wealthy retiree, a former postal¹⁰ worker, IRS agent and government auditor¹¹, would commit mass murder. That doesn't fit the mass shooter profile. His younger brother Eric was also puzzled.

ERIC PADDOCK: He was a guy who took his little brother camping. He was a guy who loved his women. He was a guy who played video poker¹². He was a guy who worked his [expletive] off and made my family - helped make my family and my mother affluent¹³.

BERKES: The shooter made millions in investments in real estate. And he loved gambling¹⁴ and guns. He had elite¹⁵ status at casinos in Las Vegas. And police say he bought dozens of guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition¹⁶. Three times earlier this year, he drove to St. George, Utah, to Dixie GunWorx, where gun seller Chris Michel found him more engaging than most.

CHRIS MICHEL: He came in. And everything that he wore, his demeanor¹⁷, the person that he was, the openness with his personality - he was the guy next door that would mow¹⁸, you know, people's lawns for you. He would be the guy handing out ice cream cones¹⁹ on the corner when the bus comes to a stop to the kids. He would be the one that all of us would have taken to the family barbecue and invited. He just - he was an open guy to us.

BERKES: So far, police have revealed no evidence of illegal possession of firearms. Some neighbors who've spoken with reporters simply say Paddock and his girlfriend kept to themselves. Of course, they all learned more this week like the rest of us. Sharon Judy (ph) was a neighbor in Melbourne, Fla.

SHARON JUDY: It's really scary to think this was a guy next door, perfectly²⁰ normal, on nobody's radar²¹, nobody's reason to think anything of any of it. And then all of a sudden, he goes out and does something like this.

BERKES: The same thing puzzles police. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo says the shooting shows meticulous²² planning by a disturbed and dangerous man. Paddock cased at least one other music festival in Las Vegas a week before the shooting, renting a high-rise condo above the crowd.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOE LOMBARDO: What we know is Stephen Paddock is a man who spent decades acquiring weapons and ammo and living a secret life, much of which will never be fully²³ understood.

BERKES: Somebody must've seen or known something, Lombardo says. The shooter's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, said she had no hints of the rampage in a statement read by attorney Matthew Lombard.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MATTHEW LOMBARD: (Reading) He never said anything to me or took any action that I was aware of that I understood in any way to be a warning that something horrible like this was going to happen.

BERKES: This apparent silence - the secret life - also defies another characteristic of mass shooters, says Reid Meloy, a forensic²⁴ psychologist at the University of California, San Diego Medical School. Meloy's research shows that some kind of grievance²⁵, big or small, can be a triggering event.

REID MELOY: And that's, of course, the mystery in this particular case, as there doesn't yet seem to be any grievance that surfaced.

BERKES: And the secret of planning and preparing a response can end up overshadowing the grievance. It becomes its own exciting motivation. Meloy says the research shows that the excitement is fueled by telling somebody something.

MELOY: A number of studies have found the majority of these individuals that carry out mass murders will communicate their intent to a third party before they do it. There does not seem to be any evidence of that yet in this case, which would be an anomaly.

BERKES: This is how Sheriff Lombardo puts it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LOMBARDO: Anything that would indicate this individual's trigger point and that would cause him to do such harm - we haven't understood it yet.

BERKES: So as much as investigators have learned about Stephen Paddock, we don't know enough to know who he truly was. Howard Berkes, NPR News, Las Vegas.

1 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 serene   

adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的

参考例句：

• He has entered the serene autumn of his life.他已进入了美好的中年时期。
• He didn't speak much,he just smiled with that serene smile of his.他话不多，只是脸上露出他招牌式的淡定的微笑。

5 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

6 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

7 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

8 commotion   

n.骚动，动乱

参考例句：

• They made a commotion by yelling at each other in the theatre.他们在剧院里相互争吵，引起了一阵骚乱。
• Suddenly the whole street was in commotion.突然间，整条街道变得一片混乱。

9 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

10 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

11 auditor   

n.审计员，旁听着

参考例句：

• The auditor was required to produce his working papers.那个审计员被要求提供其工作底稿。
• The auditor examines the accounts of all county officers and departments.审计员查对所有县官员及各部门的帐目。

12 poker   

n.扑克；vt.烙制

参考例句：

• He was cleared out in the poker game.他打扑克牌，把钱都输光了。
• I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it.我打扑克是老手了，可以玩些花样。

13 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

14 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

15 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

16 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

17 demeanor   

n.行为；风度

参考例句：

• She is quiet in her demeanor.她举止文静。
• The old soldier never lost his military demeanor.那个老军人从来没有失去军人风度。

18 mow   

v.割（草、麦等），扫射，皱眉；n.草堆，谷物堆

参考例句：

• He hired a man to mow the lawn.他雇人割草。
• We shall have to mow down the tall grass in the big field.我们得把大田里的高草割掉。

19 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

20 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

21 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

22 meticulous   

adj.极其仔细的，一丝不苟的

参考例句：

• We'll have to handle the matter with meticulous care.这事一点不能含糊。
• She is meticulous in her presentation of facts.她介绍事实十分详细。

23 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

24 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

25 grievance   

n.怨愤，气恼，委屈

参考例句：

• He will not easily forget his grievance.他不会轻易忘掉他的委屈。
• He had been nursing a grievance against his boss for months.几个月来他对老板一直心怀不满。