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.
CBS News confirms Marilou Danley arrived in the U.S. from the Philippines & was escorted through LAX in a wheelchair https://t.co/SiEwLI5DBi pic.twitter.com/ehPHjG8Yt3
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 4, 2017
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 Tuesday night.
The Australia-based sisters of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock’s girlfriend say they believe Paddock sent her away so she wouldn’t interfere with his plans to go on a shooting rampage.
Marilou Danley’s sisters were interviewed by Australia’s Channel 7 TV network with their faces obscured and their names withheld. They said they were surprised to learn Danley had gone to the Philippines two weeks ago.
One sister tearfully said: “I know that she doesn’t know anything.”
The woman said Danley is “a good person” who would’ve stopped Paddock had she been there.
CHANNEL 7: Sisters of the Las Vegas gunman's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, say she was "sent away" to Philippines before deadly shooting pic.twitter.com/Qa4UWXkeUL
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) October 4, 2017
A nephew of Stephen Paddock’s girlfriend says he’s stunned by the actions of the Las Vegas gunman and didn’t even know that Paddock was interested in guns.
Jordan Knights’ aunt is Marilou Danley, a 62-year-old who recently returned to the United States from a weekslong trip abroad. The Australian man says he spent time in Las Vegas with Paddock and Danley just a few months ago.
Knights told Australia’s Channel 9 from his home near Brisbane, “It seemed like he just looked after my aunty and that was it.”
The 23-year-old said he didn’t give Paddock another thought until he was identified as the gunman who killed 59 people and wounded more than 500 on Sunday.
He said that Paddock “didn’t seem like he was the type of guy to do that.”
Paddock transferred $100,000 to the Philippines in the days before the shooting, a U.S. official briefed by law enforcement but not authorized to speak publicly because of the continuing investigation told the AP on condition of anonymity.
Investigators are still trying to trace that money and are also looking into a least a dozen financial reports over the past several weeks that said Paddock gambled more than $10,000 per day, the official said.
Associated Press
