Benjamin Hoskins Paddock: Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock's father was notorious bank robber on FBI's most wanted list

The Las Vegas gun massacre shooter was the son of a notorious bank robber once on the FBI’s most wanted list, his family said.

Stephen Paddock, 64, was named by police as the gunman who killed at least 58 people and wounded 515 after opening fire on a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip from a 32nd-floor hotel room on Sunday.

Eric Paddock said his brother’s involvement had hit the family like “an asteroid”.

The 55-year-old, who lives in Orlando, Florida, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “We have no idea how this happened.

“It's like an asteroid just fell on top of our family."

The brother said that their father was bank robber Benjamin Hoskins Paddock who was on the FBI's 10 most wanted list until 1977.

Described as an avid gambler, he spent nearly a decade as a fugitive after springing from a Texan prison in 1968, the Arizona Republic reported at the time.

An FBI poster described him as a "psychopath" who should be treated as "armed and very dangerous".

Eric Paddock also said his brother had made millions as a property developer and recently sent his 90-year-old mother a zimmer frame.

He described his brother as a gambler who played slot machines and video poker on the Strip while living in retirement.

Eric Paddock had earlier told CBS News his brother was "not an avid gun guy at all" with "no religious affiliation, no political affiliation", or history of mental illness.

Stephen Paddock lived in Mesquite, Nevada, 80 miles north east of Las Vegas, with 62-year-old Marilou Danley who had been his partner. She was originally treated as a suspect but police have since ruled out any involvement.

Guns and ammunition were found in a search of Paddock's "nice, clean" home, a Mesquite Police spokesman said.

He is believed to have killed himself before a police Swat team burst into his room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, where at least 10 "rifles" were found, Clark County sheriff Joseph Lombardo said.

"We have no investigative information or background associated with this individual that is derogatory," he added.

The motive for the attack on the Route 91 Harvest Festival remains unclear, with FBI Special Agent Aaron Rouse saying Paddock had no connection to an international terrorist organisation.