Search for accomplices
Investigators probing whether Las Vegas gunman’s purchase of more than 30 guns in 2016 linked to an event
The Las Vegas gunman likely “had some help” and authorities are looking at whether he had any accomplices, the sheriff leading the investigation says.
An FBI official said that no one had been taken into custody over Monday’s shooting spree, but Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said he found it hard to believe the arsenal of weapons, ammunition and explosives recovered by police could have been assembled by Stephen Paddock completely on his own.
In just 10 or so minutes, 58 people were killed and nearly 500 people injured when Paddock, 64, strafed an outdoor concert with gunfire from his 32nd-floor suite of the Mandalay Bay casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
“You have to make an assumption that he had some help at some point.”
NBC News reporter Pete Williams, citing law enforcement officials, said investigators were trying to identify a mystery woman seen with Paddock in the days before the massacre but did not know if she has any con- nection to the attack.
Lombardo said the attack was the obvious outcome of meticulous planning. “What we know is that Stephen Paddock is a man who spent decades acquiring weapons and ammo and living a secret life, much of which will never be fully understood.”
Police recovered nearly 50 firearms from three locations. Twelve of the rifles in the hotel were fitted with bump stocks, allowing the guns to be fired almost as though they were automatic weapons. Lombardo said investigators were examining the possibility Paddock’s purchase of more than 30 guns in October 2016 might have been precipitated by some event in his life.
US President Donald Trump visited Las Vegas, marking the first time since taking office he has had to confront a major mass shooting. Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, was questioned by the FBI and said she had no idea he was “planning violence against anyone”.
Investigators questioned her about Paddock’s weapons purchases, a US$100,000 transfer to a Philippine bank that appeared to be intended for her, and whether she saw any changes in his behaviour before she left the US.