The investigation of a gunman who killed 59 people at a Las Vegas concert now shifts to his girlfriend, who has returned to the United States from the Philippines.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo says investigators are hoping to get some insight from Marilou Danley on why her boyfriend Stephen Paddock opened fire on a concert crowd from a high-rise hotel room.
Ms. Danley had been out of the country for weeks before the shooting. A law enforcement official says she arrived on a flight from Manila to Los Angeles where FBI agents were waiting for her late on October 3.
This undated photo provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Marilou Danley, girlfriend of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock.
The official wasn’t authorised to publicly discuss the matter and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
President Donald Trump is set to arrive in Las Vegas to meet with public officials, first responders and some of the 527 people injured in the attack.
Reuters adds:
To be interviewed
Law enforcement authorities were hoping to obtain some answers from the woman identified as Paddock’s live-in companion, Ms. Danley.
Ms. Danley had assured her family she has a “clean conscience” following Sunday night’s rampage, her brother told ABC News in the Philippines.
“I called her up immediately and she said, ‘Relax, we shouldn’t worry about it. I’ll fix it. Do not panic. I have a clean conscience’,” Reynaldo Bustos told ABC in Manila. Ms. Danley’s sisters told Australia’s Seven Network television that Paddock had bought Ms. Danley a ticket to the Philippines, a move they now believe was intended to allow him to plan his attack without interruption.
Investigators were examining a $1,00,000 wire transfer Paddock sent to an account in the Philippines that “appears to have been intended” for Ms. Danley, a senior U.S. homeland security official said on Tuesday.
The official, who has been briefed regularly on the probe and spoke on condition of anonymity, said investigators’ working assumption was that the money was intended as a form of life insurance payment for Ms. Danley.
Trump to visit Vegas
President Donald Trump was travelling to Las Vegas on a condolence visit on Wednesday.
“It’s a very, very sad day,” Mr. Trump told reporters before leaving for Las Vegas, adding that the investigation was progressing.
Ms. Danley arrived in Manila on Sept. 15, flew to Hong Kong on Sept. 22 and returned in Manila on Sept. 25. She was there until she flew to Los Angeles on Tuesday night, according to a Philippine immigration official.
A Philippine police source said authorities in Manila were told Paddock used identification belonging to Ms. Danley, when checking into the Mandalay Bay hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.
