Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
After the bullets
US reels as killer’s girlfriend flies back to face questions
DOZENS of bodies lie on the ground in the horrific aftermath of the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
The field where minutes earlier thousands enjoyed a country music festival is littered with belongings abandoned in the stampede to escape a hail of bullets.
America was last night still struggling to come to terms with the latest gun atrocity as the girlfriend of killer Stephen Paddock was being questioned by the FBI over the massacre.
Marilou Danley arrived back in the States from the Philippines on Tuesday night to be met by Federal agents at Los Angeles airport.
It is hoped she may shed new light on what turned the former accountant into the country’s biggest single mass murderer. The FBI has conceded it has still not found a motive for why the high-stakes gambler snapped.
Native Filipino Danley was seen in arrivals in a wheelchair being pushed by an airport assistant, with a police officer walking behind. The 62-year-old was wearing a hat and light blue jacket, and was pushing a black suitcase in front of her.
An officer revealed she voluntarily returned to the US in a bid to “clear her name” of any involvement in Sunday’s shooting, after her status was upgraded by police to “person of interest”.
Millionaire real estate broker, Paddock, 64, opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Hotel. He shot dead 59 at the Route 91 country music festival and injured another 527.
It emerged yesterday he had bought 33 rifles in the past year. After carrying out the atrocity, he turned one of his 23 guns on himself. Danley’s siblings have insisted she was unaware of his motives.
Speaking anonymously in Australia, where they live, one sister said: ”I know that she didn’t know anything as well, like us. She was sent away. She was away so that she will be not there to interfere with what he’s planning.
“In that sense, I thank him for sparing my sister’s life,” she said, adding her sister was “really in love with Steve”.
The other sister said Danley “didn’t even know that she was going to the Philippines, until Steve said, ‘Marilou, I found you a cheap ticket to the Philippines’”. She added: “No one can put the puzzles together, no one except Marilou because Steve is not here to talk any more. Only Marilou can maybe help.”
Investigators are still trying to trace the $100,000 (£75,000) Paddock transferred to the Philippines in the days before the shooting.
President Trump and First Lady Melania visited Las Vegas yesterday, and met Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval.
Caught between the latest gruesome mass shooting and a Republican-led Congress that wants to ease restrictions on firearms, Trump offered sympathy to the victims, but did not propose any changes to gun laws.