VEGAS SHOOTER’S GIRLFRIEND DENIES KNOWING PLANS FOR ATTACK
Danley says after he paid for her trip to the Philippines, she feared it was his way of ending their relationship
The girlfriend of the man behind the Las Vegas bloodbath that killed nearly 60 innocent people said Wednesday that the man she knew was a kind person that gave no hint of his oncoming murderous rampage.
“I knew Stephen Paddock as a kind, quiet caring man,” Marilou Danley in a statement through her attorney after an FBI interview. “I loved him and I 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 anyway to be warning that something horrible like this was going to happen.”
Danley, who described herself as a mother and a grandmother, returned to the U. S. on Wednesday after visiting family members in the Philippines, their native country.
She was in the Philippines when Paddock fired the fatal gunshots out of a 32nd- story window of a Las Vegas high rise on Sunday.
Danley, 62, said in the statement that a couple of weeks ago, Paddock told her he had found an inexpensive plane ticket for her to go visit her family. Once she was there, she said, he had wired her money to buy a home for her and her family. The FBI says he wired $ 100,000.
She said that the plane ticket and money for the home made her concerned that Paddock was pushing her away.
“I was grateful, but honestly, I was worried that first the unexpected trip and then the money was a way of breaking up with me,” Danley said. “It never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone.”
“I have not made a statement until now because I have been cooperating with authorities. I voluntarily flew back to America, because I know the FBI and the Las Vegas Police Department wanted to talk to me, and I want to talk to them. I will cooperate fully with their investigation. Anything I can do to help ease suffering and help in any way I will do.”
It was not immediately clear whether Danley could provide clues to solve the mystery of Paddock’s motive. Danley was interviewed Wednesday by authorities at the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, a law enforcement official said. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly, said Danley was accompanied by a lawyer and cooperated with the investigation.
Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo has named Danley a “person of interest” in the investigation.
The official said Danley was not considered an accomplice, though investigators were likely to subject her to extensive questioning about the gunman’s activities before the assault, his extensive cache of weapons and the state of his finances.
The focus of the investigation into the Las Vegas bloodbath that killed almost 60 people shifted Wednesday to Marilou Danley, girlfriend of gunman Stephen Paddock. Danley was questioned by the FBI after returning from the Philippines.
As investigators continued their quest for Paddock’s motive, more details emerged from Sunday’s massacre. The victims included construction workers, government employees, college students, even Disneyland cast members. The latest fatality was a Californian, a hero removed from his ventilator about 12 hours after the hailstorm of bullets concluded.
President Trump arrived in Las Vegas on Air Force One. The shattered windows of the hotel room from which Paddock conducted his grisly assault were visible from the runway.
“America is truly a nation in mourning,” Trump said after meeting with some of the more than 500 people wounded in the attack.
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said Wednesday investigators worked to reconstruct Paddock’s life and patterns. McCabe said investigators wanted to speak to “anyone and everyone who may have crossed his path in the days and the weeks leading up to this horrific event.”
Authorities examined Paddock’s recent transfer of $ 100,000 to the Philippines before the deadly rampage. The purpose of the transfer was not immediately clear, though Danley has deep family ties in the area.
Paddock engaged in several unrelated transfers of thousands of dollars, possibly related to his high- stakes gambling activities in Las Vegas.
Paddock wounded more than 500 people in a 10- minute barrage from his perch in a 32nd- floor hotel suite on the city’s Strip. The retired accountant killed himself before a SWAT team blasted into the room.
The shooting rampage was meticulously planned and included specially modified weapons.