Las Vegas police considered questioning a second man in connection to the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, documents released Thursday have revealed.
Stephen Paddock was the lone gunman responsible for the attack that left 59 people dead.
But investigators also wanted to talk to a second, unidentified man, whose name has been blacked out in court documents.
This is the first time it has been learned that authorities sought to speak to a third individual in connection with the case.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal decided to name the second person of interest – Douglas Haig, 55, of Mesa, Arizona.
The Review-Journal is one of a number of media organizations that sued in order to unseal the warrant records.
Search warrant records unsealed Tuesday show that in the first hours after the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, Las Vegas police and FBI agents identified two people of interest along with the lone gunman, Stephen Paddock (seen above)
The newspaper named Haig after the judge presiding over the case mistakenly handed it a document without redacting his name, according to the Los Angeles Times.
According to the Times, Haig runs a web site, Specialized Military Ammunition, that sells advanced bullets and projectiles.
‘We currently offer new loaded specialty ammunition, recovered reloading components and brass processing for 5.56 and 7.62 NATO as well as loaded ammunition – both civilian and military,’ according to the site.
‘Common products range from demilitarized components to new small arms ammunition components such as ball, tracer, incendiary, incendiary tracer, armor piercing and armor piercing incendiary in NATO and COMBLOCK calibers.’
Visitors to the site on Tuesday saw a message which read: ‘We Will Be Closed Indefinitely. Check back to see if / when we are up and running again.’
Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, was considered the other person of interest and was questioned by the FBI, but has since been ruled out as a suspect.
She was in the Philippines at the time of the attack and is cooperating with investigators.
Authorities have said she’s not likely to face criminal charges.
Haig could face unspecified charges in the October 1 shooting that killed 58 people and injured more than 800 others on the Las Vegas Strip.
This October 2017 file photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Force Investigation Team Report showing the interior of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock’s 32nd floor room of the Mandalay Bay hotel
‘Until the investigation can rule otherwise, Marilou Danley and Douglas Haig have become persons of interest who may have conspired with Stephen Paddock to commit Murder with a Deadly Weapon,’ the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department wrote in a document obtained by The Review-Journal.
The records were obtained after media organizations including The Associated Press sued to unseal court records and autopsy reports.
Judges in Las Vegas ordered the release of search warrant records and autopsy reports in a bid to answer ongoing questions about the investigation.
Judge Elissa Cadish issued a written order to release documents showing what investigators told judges to obtain the search warrants.
Separately, Judge Timothy Williams ruled that the Clark County coroner should release autopsy records of Paddock, and the people killed by gunfire, with victims’ names blacked out.
Coroner John Fudenberg maintains the records are private but county attorneys didn’t immediately respond to messages about whether he would appeal the ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court.
One person of interest was Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley (above). She was in the Philippines at the time of the attack and is cooperating with investigators. Authorities have said she’s not likely to face criminal charges
County lawyers maintain that autopsy information is confidential, with release restricted to families and to police investigating deaths.
‘All records are public unless the law says otherwise,’ said attorney Margaret McLetchie, who represents The Associated Press and the Review-Journal in the case.
She noted that Nevada state public records law does not directly address autopsies, and added that a deceased person has no legal right to privacy.
Clark County District Court officials also blacked out sentences that the judge agreed could affect an ongoing investigation focusing on the unnamed person and stemming from evidence found during the service of the warrants.
Sheriff Joe Lombardo on January 19 released a preliminary report of the investigation and said police and the FBI believe Paddock acted alone before he killed himself as police closed in.
The police report characterized the 64-year-old Paddock – a retired accountant who amassed a millionaire’s fortune – as a high-stakes video poker player on a losing streak who was obsessed with cleanliness, may have been bipolar and was having difficulties with his live-in girlfriend.
Authorities also have said an unnamed person could face unspecified charges in the October 1 shooting that killed 58 people and injured more than 800 others on the Las Vegas Strip
People are seen above running from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after apparent gun fire was heard on October 1 in Las Vegas
It did not answer the key question: What made Paddock stockpile a cache of 23 assault-style weapons and fire for about 10 minutes out the windows of the high-rise hotel into a crowd of 22,000 people at an open-air concert on the Las Vegas Strip.
The sheriff has said he does not expect Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, to face criminal charges.
She was in the Philippines during the massacre and was the only person named a person of interest in the case.
Authorities questioned her when she returned to the US, and said she was cooperating with the investigation.