The Claim

A common claim that even I myself am guilty of falsely spreading in the past. Often attached with a newspaper reading "Bowlers knock 'em down", the claim is that Stephen Craig Paddock, Las Vegas shooter, had worked for NASA.

On the surface this claim seems true, when you google "Stephen Paddock" "NASA" you do indeed get hits for Apollo era documents that seem to reference a Stephen Paddock. You may even find posts, videos, or other sites online that also seem to discuss this and post it as evidence for all sorts of theories. Issue is, this topic, like all things, requires a deeper look to understand the truth.

The Truth

The truth is that the Stephen Paddock mentioned in the NASA documents and the accompanying "Bowlers knock 'em down" newspaper is actually a Stephen Gorham Paddock Jr. Gorham led a 40 year aerospace engineering career and passed away in 2013. ^[1]

We can see Gorham cited many times within other NASA related paperwork during his tenure as both "Stephen Paddock" and "Stephen G. Paddock, Jr." For example, here ^[2], here ^[3], and here. ^[4]

As for the "Bowlers knock 'em down" newpaper in particular, we can again trace this back to Gorham via the phone number listed. Looking at the newspaper, it says, "For more information contact Steve Paddock at x4271 or 482-8781..." Looking at an archived February, 1980 NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Telephone Directory ^[5], on page sixty, under extension 4271, we see "PADDOCK S. G., McDonnell Douglas", the same extension listed on the "Bowlers knock em' down" advertisement.

In Conclusion

We can see an image of Gorham along with a small quote in the NASA Apollo 11 Flight Operations 20th Anniversary Reunion book here: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19910008862/downloads/19910008862.pdf (page 102)

As we can see, with a bit of leg-work and a few queries, we can prove that the Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock is NOT the same Paddock listed on many pieces of NASA literature. I myself have made this mistake in the past and perpetuated this myth via posts online. Its understandable why this would happen as Paddock did work for a Lockheed predecessor, perhaps Morton Thiokol, which would often get associated with NASA. But, I felt it was important for me to correct my mistake and clear up this myth for anyone looking into the Vegas shooting. Feel free to contact for information if you have additional sources or clarifications regarding this topic.