Stephen Paddock Was 'Terribly Depressed' Over Relationships Issues Before Mass Murder
Sick and twisted Stephen Paddock was "terribly depressed" over "relationship issues" in the months leading up to the mass murder which killed 59 people and left 500 injured, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.
A Nevada businessman claims he met the killer two months before his horrific night of terror, claiming Paddock confided in him about his personal issues.
Scott Armstrong, 54, who lives in Reno — where Paddock owned a home — recalled their meeting over a car sale, and says he contacted the FBI about his encounter after recognizing the sick killer in photographs published after he opened fire on a crowd of country music fans.
"After seeing a photograph of Stephen Paddock, I realized he was the same man I had met and interacted with regarding a BMW about two months ago," Armstrong wrote on his Facebook page. "From the beginning of our interaction, I sensed he was distressed in some way. I'm very intuitive and pretty good at reading people. During the course of our conversation we somehow started talking about relationships and he confided his had just ended and that he was terribly depressed over it."
"I don't think I've seen a man as down as he was. I offered words of encouragement and shared some of my relationship experiences and tried to console him," he wrote, adding, "I explained things would eventually work out.”
Armstrong claimed he left about half an hour later and never heard from Paddock again before he took his own life as a SWAT team moved in on his suite at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Vegas, from which he launched his assault.
"I saw his picture yesterday, and it all started to come back to me,” he explained on his social media page.
Armstrong says he contacted the FBI to notify them of his brief encounter with the deranged gunman.
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