Vegas shooter’s girlfriend says no idea of his motive
Gunman sent Danley to Philippines to visit her family
WASHINGTON: The Las Vegas shooter’s girlfriend Marilou Danley was interviewed by investigators on Wednesday but said little publicly to shed any light on the motive of Stephen Paddock, who killed 59 people and wounded more than 500 in the shooting spree.
“I am devastated by the deaths and injuries that have occurred," Danley, 62, said in a statement read out by her attorney Matthew Lombard to reporters. “I knew Stephen Paddock as a kind, caring, quiet man. I loved him and hoped to have a quiet future with him.
“He never said anything to me or took any action that I was aware of that I understood as a warning that something horrible like this was going to happen,” she said in the statement.
Danley said Paddock bought her a ticket for the Philippines to visit her family and later sent her money — $100,000 — to buy a house. She said this had worried her — “first the unexpected trip home and then the money was a way of breaking up with me”.
“It never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone,” she added. Or that he wanted her away at the time.
The FBI refused to talk about its conversation with Danley. Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police department told reporters they have still not ascertained his motive and “haven’t understood yet” what could have triggered him off.
Lombardo went on to provide a new time line, with the first shots being timed at 10.05 pm local time on Sunday night and the last at 10.15 pm. The killer was found dead at around 11.20 pm, after officers entered his hotel room by breaching the door.
Investigators have said Paddock planned the shooting meticulously, moving into a 32nd floor room overlooking the music festival venue on September 28, three days before he opened fire on concertgoers. He lugged up 23 firearms in 10 suitcases and stayed mostly indoors with a do-not-disturb sign on the door.
His motives remain a mystery.