President consoles Las Vegas victims as killer’s girlfriend faces questioning
THE girlfriend of the Las Vegas mass murderer last night described him as a “kind, caring, quiet man” as Donald Trump arrived in the city to comfort the victims.
Marilou Danley was interviewed by FBI agents yesterday in a bid to discover Stephen Paddock’s motive, which remains a mystery. She said in a statement that she had no clue he was planning the massacre. I knew Stephen Paddock as a kind, caring, quiet man. I loved him and hoped for a quiet future together with him.
“He never said anything to me or took any action that I was aware of that I understood in any way to be a warning that something horrible like this was going to happen.”
Danley said in her statement that Paddock had told her two weeks ago that he had found a cheap plane ticket for her to visit family in the Philippines.
She is an Australian citizen and her sisters there said they believed she was “sent away” by Paddock to the Philippines a week before the shooting. He also wired $100,000 (£75,000) to an account in the Philippines.
She said: “Like all Filipinos abroad, I was excited to go home and see family and friends. While there, he wired me money, which he said was for me to buy a house for me and my family.”
She said she became concerned at that point, thinking he wanted to break up with her. “It never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone.”
Speaking to first responders in the city, Mr Trump said the killer must have had his “wires screwed up”. The president, who made a private visit to a hospital with his wife, Melania, said investigators were “learning a lot more” about Paddock. Mr Trump said he had met “terribly wounded” patients who were “some of the most amazing people” and had shown “tremendous bravery”.
He said he had invited them to the White House. He said: “Believe me, I’ll be there for them. We have a great country and we are there for you.” He added: “It’s a very, very sad day for me, personally.”
During his visit Mr Trump deflected a question about whether the US has a problem with gun violence. “We’re not going to talk about that today,” he said.
It also emerged that Paddock may have intended to target a bigger Las Vegas outdoor music festival the previous weekend. He tried unsuccessfully to book a room overlooking the Life is Beautiful event, which attracted 50,000 people a day and featured Damon Albarn’s group Gorillaz.
There were unconfirmed reports a receipt for Paddock’s last room service meal at the Mandalay Bay showed there may have been another person in his room.