Vegas killer ‘had an accomplice and planned to escape’

LAS Vegas killer Stephen Paddock may have had an accomplice and an escape plan, police said yesterday.

The gunman may have fired at giant tanks of jet fuel during his ten-minute shooting rampage in the hope of fleeing during the ensuing fireball.

Police later found 50lbs of explosive chemicals and 1,600 rounds of ammunition in the multi-millionaire’s car and weapons stashes in two properties he owned close to the city.

Investigators now want to speak with a mystery woman seen with him in the days before the attack. Police are focusing on an arsenal of 33 rifles he bought legally since last October without triggering any warnings.

They think he may have been planning to strike two months earlier at a festival in Chicago.

As the investigation continued into America’s worst mass shooting, British troops on leave in Las Vegas revealed how they helped save the wounded.

Paddock killed 58 music fans and injured hundreds more on Sunday when he opened fire on open air concert from his lair at the Mandalay Bay hotel. He then turned a gun on himself.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo said he had seen evidence that the killer planned to escape after the attack, but refused to say what it was.

‘Look at the weapon obtaining, the amounts of [explosive] available – do you think this was accomplished all on his own? You got to make the assumption he had to have help at some point, and we want to ensure that’s the answer.’

He said Paddock, 64, ‘meticulously planned the atrocity, adding: ‘Stephen Paddock is a man who spent decades acquiring weapons and ammo and lived a secret life, much of which will never be fully understood.’

The killer rigged 12 semi-automatic rifles fitted with ‘ bump stock’ devices which allowed the guns to fire continuously.

They were part of 33 weapons he had amassed from October 2016 to September 28 this year without sparking any warnings.

Jill Snyder, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said: ‘We wouldn’t get notified of the purchases of the rifles, we would only get notified if there was a multiple sale, which would be two or more handguns in an individual purchase. A semi-automatic rifle with a bump-fire stock on it is not an illegal machine gun.’

FBI agents are inspecting damage caused by two bullets that hit a pair of circular white jet fuel tanks 1,100 feet from the concert site, but did not cause a fire or explosion. Investigators are also trying to identify a mystery woman seen with Paddock in the days before the massacre.

They want to speak with her to build a timeline of the killer’s last days, but don’t know if she has any connection to the attack.

Marilou Danley, his 62- year- old girlfriend, was in the Philippines during the concert massacre but has since returned and is still speaking to the FBI. She said she had no idea about the attack.

Paddock may have been planning to strike two months earlier at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, which was attended by Barack Obama’s eldest daughter Malia. He allegedly booked two hotel rooms overlooking the festival area, which was attended by 400,000 revellers in August.

He had also booked rooms overlooking an earlier concert in Las Vegas. British troops on leave in Las Vegas during the mass shooting last night revealed how they ran through screaming crowds to treat the injured.

Six troopers from the Queen’s Dragoon Guards, who had been taking part in desert training in Nevada, told how they used pillows, tea towels, belts and their shirts as makeshift tourniquets.

Trooper Ross Woodward, 23, said he used his Army training to try and save a man who had been shot in his back. The soldier, from Nottingham, said: ‘I tried to help him but he kept telling me, “I can’t breathe”. He died while holding my hand.’ Trooper Stuart Finlay, 25, helped two female gunshot victims before making an improvised splint for a woman with a broken leg.

A British fireman who was celebrating his 20th wedding anniversary with his wife saved dozens of concert-goers. Tony Dumbleton, who works for the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, dragged some of the injured to safety.

The 43-year- old then used his first aid skills to apply bandages to their bullet wounds.

‘He had to have had some help’