The siblings of the Las Vegas mass murderer’s girlfriend have emotionally broken their silence saying she was unaware of his motivation to commit such an atrocity.
Marilou Danley’s two sisters appeared on Seven News on Wednesday evening, tearfully claiming she was sent to the Philippines by Stephen Paddock so she would not ‘interfere’.
The two sisters say she is a ‘good and gentle person’ and was as ‘shocked’ as the rest of the world at the horrific actions of her partner.
‘I know that she don’t know anything as well like us. She was sent away. She was sent away so that she will not be there to interfere with what he’s planning,’ Ms Danley’s sister told Seven News.
She was met by federal investigators at LAX Airport in Los Angeles on Tuesday after arriving from the Philippines. They have described Ms Danley as a ‘person of interest’ following Sunday’s shooting spree.
The siblings of the Las Vegas mass murderer’s girlfriend have emotionally broken their silence saying she was unaware of his motivation to commit such an atrocity
Photos of Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock – seen in Manila (Philippines) in 2013 with relatives of his girlfriend, Marilou Danley; Marilou is believed to be in the purple top
What does she know? Marilou Danley was pictured being escorted through Los Angeles airport by security and what appears to be the LAPD
She was seen being wheeled through LAX in a wheelchair in footage obtained by NBC News.
Danley, who had traveled to Hong Kong on September 25, was escorted through the terminal by FBI agents after a flight from the Philippines.
The 62-year-old was wearing a hat and light blue jacket and was pushing a black suitcase in front of her. It is not yet clear where she was then taken or why she was in the wheelchair.
A police official revealed she voluntarily returned to the US in a bid to ‘clear her name’ of involvement in the massacre.
Back in the US: Marilou, 62, was seen in a wheelchair while clutching a suitcase and shielding her face with a visor. It is unclear why she was in a wheelchair
Danley, 62, had been in the southeast Asian country before the shooting occurred.
It remains unclear if she had prior knowledge of the shooting, according to The New York Times.
Authorities in the Philippines said that Danely had been in Manilla since September 22, more than a week before the shooting.
Just a week before Sunday’s event, Paddock had wired an estimated $100,000 to The Philippines.
Marilou Danley, the girlfriend of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, was met by the FBI at LAX on Tuesday
Paddock sent the money to an account before setting up a sniper’s nest on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel on Sunday.
Law enforcement officials who confirmed the wire transfer to NBC did not reveal who the bank account belongs to.
The 62-year-old has not been charged with a crime.
Before Paddock opened fire on hundreds of civilians over the weekend, he was known for his tendency to berate his girlfriend at their local Starbucks.
Paddock and Danley were regulars at the Starbucks inside the Virgin River Casino in Mesquite.
But Paddock also had a habit of berating Danley in front of the coffee-chain’s employees, according to Esperanza Mendoza.
Mendoza, who is the supervisor at the Starbucks, told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that the abuse ‘happened a lot’.
The pair always ordered the same drinks. Paddock would get a venti mocha cappuccino and Danley would get a medium caramel macchiato.
Mendoza said the abuse came when Danley would ask to use his casino card to make the purchase.
The card allows gamblers to use credits earned on electronic gambling machines to pay for souvenirs or food in the casino.
‘He would glare down at her and say, “You don’t need my casino card for this. I’m paying for your drink, just like I’m paying for you,'” Mendoza recalled.
In another image believed to have been taken in Las Vegas in 2014, Paddock (circled) is seen with a large group in a nightclub. Danley is pictured second right
Marilou Danley The girlfriend of the man accused in the deadly Las Vegas shooting has lived in Nevada since 2003
Philippine Bureau of Immigration spokesperson Attorney Ma. Antonette Mangrobang shows the travel records of Marilou Danley in Manila, Philippines on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017
She told the newspaper, that Danley would then cower behind him and softly say, ‘OK’.
Danley is believed to be an Australian citizen and previously lived on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, for more than a decade with her former husband, an Australian man, who has since passed away.
She moved to the United States 20 years ago, according to one of her former neighbors who said she is originally from the Philippines, The Herald Sun reported.
Her now deleted Facebook page identified her as a ‘proud mom and grandma who lives life to the fullest.’
Marilou (above with her daughter Sheila and granddaughter) is expected to return to the US on Wednesday
58 people were slaughtered and 527 were injured in the massacre in Las Vegas on Sunday night
Danley had described herself on her LinkedIn page as a ‘gambling and casino professional’ living in Reno, Nevada.
That social media page also listed her as working as a ‘high limit hostess’ at Club Paradise, Atlantis Casino in Reno between 2010 and 2013, but does not list another job since that year.
Records show that Danley and Paddock lived together in a three-year-old, two-bedroom home on Babbling Brook Court in the tiny desert community of Mesquite, which is 80 miles north east of Las Vegas near the Arizona state border. Records show the property cost $396,000 (£297,554).
Danley’s arrival back in the US comes after police released frightening bodycam footage that shows Las Vegas cops racing towards Paddock’s sniper nest as he unleashed minute upon minute of automatic weapons fire.
The footage, released at a Tuesday night press conference, is compiled from cameras on officers on the ground, some of whom are seen rushing towards the Mandalay Bay Resort, where he’d set up his sniper’s nest.
In one pulse-pounding moment, a team of cops are forced to crouch behind a concrete wall because Paddock is training his fire on them directly.
Las Vegas Metropolitan PD has released bodycam footage from Sunday’s shooting, showing officers (left) approaching the hotel in which Stephen Paddock is camped out. At one point, they crouch behind a concrete wall as he fires on them (right)
The cops are seen crouch-running to avoid being hit by killer Paddock, who opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest country music festival on Sunday from the Mandalay Bay hotel, firing for 9-11 minutes. He had 23 guns, mostly rifles in his hotel rooms
Paddock (seen left in DMV photo, right in undated photograph) had 12 rifles fitted with bump-stock modifications, which allowed them to fire at full-auto rates of up to 800 rounds a minute. He killed 58, plus himself, and injured 527 others
In another, an officer runs into the line of fire to drag an apparently drunken man to safety. And in a third, a police officer covers a crouching woman as shots ring out, hoping his vest – and body – will protect her from the rounds.
In the same press conference, police revealed that Paddock hid cameras not just in a room service cart outside the two hotel rooms he rented, but also in the peephole of a room’s door – allowing him to see security and SWAT teams as they tried to end the carnage.
The first segment of the footage shows police hunkering down behind a wall facing Mandalay Bay after the initial volley of shots, Undersheriff Kevin McMahill told press.
The officers are wearing brightly colored, high-visibility vests, suggesting that they had been working security at the 22,000-person festival.
Of course, those vests also make them the perfect targets.
Paddock had stockpiled 23 guns in his room – including 12 rifles modified to fire at automatic fire rates – but had apparently paused to reload or grab another weapon as the team advanced along the wall.
Paddock was firing from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, hitting targets in the 22,000-strong crowd up to 330 yards away. Here, one of the officers in the video peers over a wall to where the shots are coming from (inside red circle, top-left)
In other footage, a different officer has to run out of cover to grab this man, who has walked into the line of fire amid ongoing gunshots. Sustained automatic fire can be heard throughout the video’s various sequences
The officer has to bodily push the confused man to safety. He can be seen wearing a T-shirt advertising Jason Aldean – the headlining singer who was playing at the festival when the first shots rang out
In the final shot of the video, police usher people – including this woman – away from the killing field and to safety. The terrified pedestrians run on while, the cops stay to help more though
Suddenly the officer with the body camera spots civilians, likely confused about the direction of the gunfire, due to Paddock’s vantage point, climbing over a fence towards them – and right into the line of fire.
The cops shout for them to get down, and one officer actually runs out, risking his life to make sure they get the message. Just as he gets back to the safety of the wall, shots ring out again.
In the second sequence, the officers are again crouched down as a crackle of gunfire echoes through the air. ‘Hey, they’re shooting right at us, guys, everybody stay down, stay down,’ the bodycam officer says.
‘Where’s it coming from?’ asks one cop. ‘It looked like the Mandalay Bay, it’s coming out of a window, another replies.
The third clip is taken from a new officer, who is crouched behind a police car. As the rat-a-tat-tat of automatic fire fills the air again, he shouts: ‘Get back! Get back!’
He then sprints out from cover and collars a bearded man wearing a T-shirt advertising festival headliner Jason Aldean. The man seems drunk or confused as the cop herds him to safety.
The fourth clip is largely obscured by the officer’s high-visibility vest, but he can be heard shouting for people to get down as shots ring out and a woman wails.
One confused woman can be heard ‘Are those firecrackers?’ just before more shots ring out. He then crouched over the woman, McMahill said. The cop can be heard remarking: ‘I have a vest on.’
The final, brief moment returns to the officer from the first two clips, as he and another cop guide terrified civilians to safety.
FBI agents confer outside of the concert grounds on Tuesday. The forensic examination of the site where dozens died on Sunday was expected to finish by Tuesday night
Investigators at the scene had struggled not just with the usual debris following a killing, but with an entire festival field of discarded purses, food and even items of clothing and boots
Also on Tuesday, photos were leaked showing Paddock’s body on the floor of his suite. Only the 64-year-old’s legs, torso and left arm are visible in the photo.
On a table next to him, there appears to be a note – or otherwise a sheet of paper – underneath what looks like a green ashtray or roll of tape.
On the floor next to the body are two assault rifles, dozens of spent shells and a hammer – which he presumably used to shatter two windows in his two-room suite which he then used to shoot out of.
One of the assault rifles has a ‘bump stock’ added to it – making effectively fully automatic – allowing him to unleash hundreds of rounds per minute.
The branding on the gun indicates it was made by Daniel Defense, a Savannah-Georgia-based company which produces variants of the AR-15 rifle, based off the U.S. Army’s M16.
McMahill said that investigations were now underway to determine who leaked the photographs to the media.
Speaking on Tuesday evening, Jill Sneider of the ATF said that no less than 12 of the rifles found in the room had bump-stock modifications. In total, there were 23 firearms in the hotel room, including an AK-47, an AR-15-type gun, and a handgun.
But Paddock had still more guns stored in his two houses in Verdi, outside Reno, and Mesquite, the total across all thee locations to 47, she said. They included rifles, shotguns and handguns bought from Nevada, Texas, Utah and California.
It also emerged Tuesday evening that early reports of 59 victims had been inaccurate; the total body count was 59, but that included Paddock’s suicide, as well as the 58 people he killed.
Also in the press conference on Tuesday evening, McMahill defended police for taking 72 minutes to breach the room where Paddock was holed up after first shots were reported at 10:08pm on Sunday.
McMahill said that patrol officers who had been managing the music festival quickly entered the hotel and began working their way up to the 32nd floor, where Paddock was located, evacuating each floor as they went – but that police couldn’t act until the SWAT team arrived.
Natalie Vanderstay answers questions from her hospital bed at University Medical Center on Tuesday. Vanderstay was shot in the stomach, and suffered a leg injury after Paddock opened fire
A candlelight vigil was held on the Las Vegas Strip Tuesday night, as mourners gathered to mourn, remember and support those lost, wounded and traumatized by Paddock’s insane spree. Pictures is a makeshift memorial
Mourners are seen here struggling to keep their emotions in check as they attend another vigil for the victims, held at the University of Nevada Las Vegas
With the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in the background, a billboard advertising an upcoming gun show is seen along the Las Vegas Strip on Tuesday
He also said that Paddock’s gunfire ceased at around 10:19pm – 59 minutes before his room was breached. At that point, he said, SWAT stopped regarding Paddock as an active shooter and treated him as a less urgent barricade situation, since he was isolated in the room.
McMahill didn’t make it clear exactly when the SWAT team was in place, but said that at 10.38pm, a security guard approaching Paddock’s room was non-fatally shot. The guard, who is still in hospital, sent ‘digital information’ to cops, McMahill said.
Details of that incident have not yet been released, but it seems likely that Paddock spotted the guard approaching using the cameras he installed in the door’s peephole and in a room service cart he’d left in the hallway.
SWAT raided the room at 11.20pm – something the McMahill said was acceptable because Paddock was no longer shooting and was barricaded in. He said the SWAT team was ‘unconventional,’ being made up of SWAT members, patrol cops and a K-9 unit.
As well as the cameras filming the hall, Paddock also set up one camera in the room, apparently to film himself. All of the footage is now being reviewed by the FBI.
An investigator is seen on Tuesday working in the room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino where Paddock opened fire on 22,000 happy festivalgoers
Photos have emerged of two of the 23 firearms found in Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock’s hotel room. The weapon on the left has a bump stock added to make it fully automatic, a scope for accuracy and an oversize magazine to hold more ammunition. The weapon on the right has markings indicating it was made by Daniel Defense, a bipod for stability, and a telescopic lens
The Mandalay Bay resort and casino pictured above on Tuesday, as investigators continue to investigate the shooting
In the photo showing Paddock’s body, he is wearing a typical outfit for a retiree: a brown long-sleeve T-shirt, black slacks and slip-on loafers with white socks.
The only item of clothing that reveals his nefarious actions are the black gloves he’s wearing.
Another photo shows how he pushed two sitting chairs together to form a cradle-like space to store at least two other rifles.
An AR-15-style rifle is seen at the foot of chairs. It has an extended magazine that would allow him to shoot for longer before reloading.
Behind a nearby pillar, about 15 magazines are piled in neat stacks. It’s unclear if they are loaded or spent.
A SWAT team located Paddock in his room about 72 minutes after the beginning of the deadly attack – but cops estimate he only fired on the crowd for nine minutes, starting at 10:08pm. He reportedly had cameras set up in the hallway to let him know when law enforcement arrived – including one on a room service cart.
Police say he shot at officers as they breached the door, but by the time they made it into the suite, Paddock had committed suicide.
Paddock killed 58 in the attack and injured 527. His death brought the total death count to 59.
Police are investigating the possibility that paddock had initially planned to shoot at the Life is Beautiful Festival (pictured), which was held across 15 blocks of Downtown Vegas from 22-24 Sept. On Sunday he attacked the Route 91 Harvest music fest
This is the view of the festival in 2016 from The Ogden, which promoted itself as being at the heart of Life is Beautiful. An earlier report said the Paddock had successfully rented condos there, and it was speculated he may have got cold feet
The Odgen itself (pictured) promoted itself as being at the heart of Life is Beautiful during the festival, which took place on the blocks at the rear of this photo, to the left and right
Police sources say he attempted to rent specific condos at the Ogden and another unnamed hotel overlooking the festival (which occupied the blocks within the blue lines)
On Tuesday, Lombardo said they had identified all but three of the victims, and that the injured county might be slightly off because one of the hospitals was double counting patients. However, he didn’t release a revised injured number.
Two pictures leaked Tuesday afternoon appear to be the full unedited photos of two Paddock’s rifles obtained by Boston 25 earlier in the day.
Also on Tuesday, video was released showing debris strewn outside the shooter’s hotel room, from when the SWAT team blew the doors off the front door.
The video shows bullet holes piercing the left side of the suite’s double doors, confirming reports that Paddock shot at officers as they tried to break into the room. However, most of the door is knocked down from the SWAT team’s forceful – but necessary – entrance.
Earlier in the night, a security guard approaching the door had been shot in the leg by Paddock. Police were notified of that at 10:28pm; SWAT didn’t storm the room until 11:20pm. The guard is still in hospital and is expected to survive.
Toni Reicher (right) hugs her daughter as nearby church bells ring during a vigil on Tuesday in Orlando, Florida, to show solidarity with the Las Vegas victims. Until Sunday, the worst-ever mass shooting was in Orlando’s Pulse gay club last year
Family members of those injured or killed in the mass shooting tearfully gather at the Family Assistance Center in Las Vegas on Tuesday
VEGAS GUNMAN’S DEVASTATING ARSENAL REVEALED
Las Vegas butcher Stephen Paddock amassed 42 firearms before carrying out his massacre, 23 of which were found inside the hotel room he used for his massacre.
The majority of those weapons were rifles, though at least one was a handgun.
Two rifles had been modified with tripods and scopes, greatly increasing their accuracy, and at least two had been modified to allow for something close to fully-automatic fire.
Thousands of rounds of ammunition were also found, ranging in caliber from .223 – similar to 5.56 rounds which are standard for NATO troops – to .308, which are typically used for hunting rifles.
While the exact extent of Paddock’s cache is not yet clear, we know it included:
1) Four DDM4 rifles, the LA Times reports. Manufactured by Daniel Defense, the rifle features a muzzle flash suppressor, making it harder to tell where the weapon is being fired from. It also has a freefloat rail allowing for a variety of attachments including scopes and grips to enhance stability. The rifle costs $1,900 if bought new
Four DDM4 rifles – made by Daniel Defense – were among the 23 weapons found in Paddock’s hotel room by the SWAT team after they busted in. They sell for around $1,700
2) Three FN-15 rifles. Made by FN America, they also feature a muzzle flash suppressor and ‘H buffer system’, which reduces recoil and increases accuracy. FN-15 refers to a series of rifles, rather than a specific weapon, which range from smaller carbines to replicas of the military-issue M16. It is not known exactly which version was owned by Paddock. They range in price from $1,000 to $2,000, if bought new
Also in his terrifying arsenal were three of these FN-15 rifles, as well as guns made by Sig Sauer. Some of the semi-automatic guns had been fitted with bump-stocks that allow for, essentially, fully automatic fire. They’re priced around $1,300
3) At least one AK-47. A Russian-designed assault rifle, it was used by the country’s military from 1945 and is still used by armies and rebel groups around the world. Known for its simplicity and reliability, it fires 7.62x39mm rounds which makes it less accurate but more devastating than other semi-automatic rifles. It can retail for as little as $600
An AK-47 was also found in the room with the other weapons. AKs can come with fully automatic fire functions, but it’s not known if that was the case here. AKs vary in price depending on the manufacturer, but cost around $1,000
4) At least one Colt AR-15. This rifle is known as the most popular in America, with an estimated 8million in homes around the country. It is also gaining a dubious reputation as the weapon of choice for mass shooters, from movie theatre killer James Holmes to San Bernardino terrorist Omar Mateen
A Colt AR-15 was also found in the room. Such weapons are semi-automatic when bought legally and cost around $1,000. At least one full-auto weapon was found, but it’s not known if it was modified or had that function when manufactured
5) Two ‘bump stocks’. While not weapons in themselves, these stocks modify semi-automatic weapons allowing for something close to fully-automatic fire. They fit over the stock of a semi-auto rifle, and function by allowing the weapon to ‘bump’ back and forth as it is fired using the weapon’s recoil. Each bump brings the user’s finger down on the trigger, firing a round. This allows users to skirt around regulations prohibiting fully-automatic weapons.
Directly behind the doors, inside the suite, the video shows yet another assault rifle set up on the ground on a bipod.
Outside the door, debris litters the carpeting in the hallway and crime scene tape covers the entrance to the room. A Do Not Disturb sign sits on the ground next to the front door, along with an Exit sign that has been struck down. Outside a neighboring door sits a used room service cart.
At a Tuesday afternoon press conference, Lombardo confirmed that Paddock had cameras set up inside and outside of his room – including one on the food service cart.
The cameras outside the room appear to have been used to warn Lombardo when police were outside. A source told the Washington Post that the cameras outside the room were connected to a tablet which streamed live footage of the hallway.
Lombardo refused to comment on whether the cameras inside the room were used by Paddock to capture the massacre.
In a Tuesday night conference McMahill said that another camera had been placed at the peephole of the door, giving a view of the corridor outside.
He added that an investigation was underway to find out who leaked the photographs.
Inside the nest: The smashed windows from the suite taken out by Paddock at the Mandalay Hotel in Las Vegas
Investigators load bodies from the scene of the mass shooting on Monday; the mass shooting that occurred on Sunday is the deadliest in American history
Above, the view from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, in an updated photo. The concert was taking place diagonally across the street, where the stage is seen, with its green roof.
He lived at the $400,000 property (pictured with crumpled garage door after police raid) with Danley. The home is in a quiet retirement community in which residents must be over 55. Cops found 19 guns there, plus explosives
Bomb experts were included in the SWAT deployment due to the fear that Paddock may have left booby traps at the home. Explosives had been found in his Mesquite house, and fertilizer used in bomb-making found in his car in Las Vegas
On Tuesday it emerged that Paddock may have previously planned to attack another open-air music festival, which was held from September 22-24.
The Life is Beautiful festival was based five and a half miles from where Paddock claimed 58 lives on Sunday, and took place across 15 blocks of Downtown Vegas.
Paddock had apparently attempted to book rooms at the Ogden, a luxury condo tower that overlooked the festival, as well as a hotel with festival views, an inside source told CBS.
He requested specific suites at both locations, but moved on when he discovered they were booked, the source claimed.
That raises the grim possibility that he’d intended to turn either location into sniper nests, like the one he built in the Mandalay Bay hotel on Sunday, prior to his horrific killing spree.
The Ogden is only 21 stories tall, whereas the rooms he booked in the Mandalay Bay hotel were on the 32nd floor.
Student mourners console each other during a candlelight vigil at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) for victims of a mass shooting
Left: Gabby Phillips, Sam Alworth, Ana Preciado and Evan Dixon embrace during a vigil on the Las Vegas strip. Right: Aryanna Williams, 6, and Mickey Deustch, 8, also paying tribute to the victims of the mass murder
Mourners pay tribute at a makeshift memorial consisting of dozens of candles on the Las Vegas Strip
Mourners pay tribute at a makeshift memorial on the Las Vegas Strip for the victims of a mass shooting in Las Vegas
That would likely have changed the distance he would have been able to fire, but had he cleared the 330 yards fired on Sunday, he could have struck 11 of the festival’s 15 blocks, including the one housing the main stage, which was directly north of the Ogden.
Among the bands playing on that stage at this year’s festival were Chance the Rapper, Muse, Lorde, The XX and Gorillaz. This year the festival attracted 45,000 people per day.
The Daily Beast was the first to report Paddock’s alleged interest in The Ogden. Their source, speaking before CBS’s lead came forward, suggested he had successfully booked ‘multiple condos’.
The source said that Paddock may have lost his nerve or changed his plans for some other reason before setting up a kill zone outside the Mandalay Bay. CBS’s source later contradicted that, saying the suites he wanted were booked up.
Investigators are still struggling to determine what caused Paddock, a retiree with only a traffic infraction on his criminal record, to carry out the attack.
But his behavior in the week before the shooting may provide clues to his dark plans.
Sources also told NBC News that Paddock went on a gambling spree in the two weeks before the attack, gambling amounts between $20,000 and $30,000 on multiple occasions in that time period. In total, he gambled with at least $160,000.
However, it’s unknown whether those high-stakes gambles resulted in wins or loses for Paddock.
On the surface, Paddock didn’t seem like a typical mass murderer, said Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI hostage negotiator and supervisor in the bureau’s behavioral science unit. Paddock is much older than the typical shooter and was not known to be suffering from mental illness.
Three people lie on the ground, one covered in blood, after the shooting at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival on Sunday
Fifty-nine people are dead and 527 have been left injured after the Sunday shooting at the Las Vegas music festival
A man lies on top of a woman as others flee the music festival grounds. She appears to be alive and moving
‘My challenge is, I don’t see any of the classic indicators, so far, that would suggest, ‘OK, he’s on the road either to suicide or homicide or both,’ Van Zandt said.
The retired accountant had worked as an internal auditor at Lockheed Martin for three years in the late 1980s, and was a manager and investor in apartment complexes located in Mesquite, Texas and California, which made him millions, his brother said, according to the Las Vegas Sun .
Local police said they had no run-ins with the man, not even traffic violations, and his brother described him as ‘just a guy who lived in Mesquite who drove down and gambled in Las Vegas and… liked burritos’.
So the discovery that he had used 10 suitcases to methodically move an arsenal up into his Mandalay Bay room over the preceding weekend came as a shock to those who knew him.
Eric Paddock said he thought his brother was far from a gun fanatic.
‘He had a couple of guns but they were all handguns, legal… he might have had one long gun, but he had them in a safe,’ he said.
He said he didn’t know about the 23 guns that were found in the hotel room.
Donald Trump is seen here holding a moment of silence for the slain people on the South Lawn of the White House. He denounced the violence as ‘evil’ and offered his ‘warmest condolences’ to the families of the victims
The usually colorful lights on New York’s Empire State Building (left) were turned off on Monday night in recognition of the atrocity. In Paris, France, lights were switched off on the Eiffel Tower (right) in respect for the victims
A law enforcement source told the Wall Street Journal that they found at least one fully automatic rifle among the batch, which included AR-15-style rifles and AK-47-style rifles.
And it later emerged that two other semi-auto guns had been legally modified with bump-stocks that allow them to function like fully-automatic rifles, pumping out 400-800 bullets a minute.
The device basically replaces the gun’s shoulder rest, with a ‘support step’ that covers the trigger opening. By holding the pistol grip with one hand and pushing forward on the barrel with the other, the shooter’s finger comes in contact with the trigger. The recoil causes the gun to buck back and forth, ‘bumping’ the trigger.
Technically, that means the finger is pulling the trigger for each round fired, keeping the weapon a legal semi-automatic.
Still others could have been properly converted into fully automatic fire, the LA Times reported.
Among the weapons found in the room were four Daniel Defense DDM4 rifles, three FN-15s and other rifles made by Sig Sauer. A handgun was also found.
Sheriff Lombardo said on Tuesday that he couldn’t comment on whether the rifles had been modified to be automatic, but he did say that they were aware of reports that bump stops were involved.
Stephen Craig Paddock pictured (in the middle of the back row) as a junior in 1970. He went to John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, California. He is shown posing for the tennis team. Forty-seven years later, he committed a massacre in Las Vegas
Christopher Sullivan, general manager of Guns & Guitars in Mesquite, Nevada, told the New York Times that he sold Paddock a handgun and two rifles. He said Paddock had passed standard federal screening checks, and seemed like ‘a normal fellow’
He said that the ammunition ranged in size from .308, usually used in hunting rifles, to .223, associated with AR-15s and other assault rifles – the latter being military-grade, the New York Daily News reported.
Eric said the revelation of his brother’s deadly plan, which saw thousands of rounds falling on a crowd of 22,000 people at a music festival below, was as unexpected as seeing a meteor suddenly landing on his street.
The shocks only grew in number Monday as police raided two of Paddock’s properties.
The first was his Mesquite home in a sleepy retirement community, which he purchased for just over $369,000 in 2015 according to public records.
What they found was a second arsenal, even bigger than the one in the Mandalay Bay room.
Some 19 additional firearms were in the house, along with the explosive Tannerite – which is used to make explosive targets for target practice – and several thousand rounds of ammunition, Lombardo said Monday.
He added that electronic devices were also found, but that they are still being examined to determine their purpose.
Photos of the property showed the garage door torn off its hinge and crumpled after the search.
Police also found the fertilizer ammonium nitrate – which can be used to make bombs – in Paddock’s car in Las Vegas on Monday.
A SWAT team also raided a second property owned by Paddock in Reno on Monday. Bomb experts were on hand, due to concerns over booby traps.
Police have not yet revealed what, if anything, they found there. Speaking on Monday evening, police said that the scene was still being examined by detectives.
Although ISIS have repeatedly attempted to claim credit for the shooting, saying Paddock had recently converted to Islam, both his brother and authorities have dismissed the claims.
He had ‘no religious affiliation, no political affiliation,’ Eric said, adding: ‘He just hung out.’
He also had no Army training, nor expressed any particular interest in guns, Eric added – though he admitted that, as he lives in Florida, he had not spoken much with his brother over the last year.
‘His life is an open book. It’s all in public record,’ he said. ‘Once again, there is nothing. He went to college. He had a job.’
Paddock had both hunting and fishing licenses according to public records, as well as his pilot’s license, but no criminal record in the state of Nevada.
Only his gambling habit stood out as unusual; Stephen would play $100 hands of video poker, and ‘once texted me a picture that he won $40,000 on a slot machine,’ Eric said.
Neighbors at one of his properties in Florida said that they had barely talked to him – that he gave them keys to check on the property, and would only turn up every three months or so.
When he did, they said, he would rarely be seen because he stayed up late at night playing poker online.
Law enforcement officials said that in recent weeks he had made a number of transactions in Las Vegas that were in the tens of thousands of dollars.
On some days he spent more than $30,000, and on others more than $20,000, according to an individual who had seen Paddock’s Multiple Currency Transaction Reports.
It’s not known whether he made money back on any recent bets, or lost it.
Paddock’s time in Las Vegas wasn’t totally without event, however; in 2012 he filed a lawsuit against Cosmopolitan Hotels & Resorts after he slipped and fell on a wet floor.
Paddock spent two years in court fighting his case after submitting his initial complaint citing ‘Negligence – Premises Liability’.
It was ultimately dismissed with prejudice in late 2014, and exact details of the case were not available on the Clark County Courts website.
Paddock was also the son of Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, a serial bank robber who ended up on the FBI Most Wanted list back in 1969 when he escaped from federal prison in Texas while serving a 20-year sentence.
The FBI kept him on the list for the next eight years, and he was eventually found one year after he was removed from the list in 1978 – when he attracted attention for opening Oregon’s first legal bingo hall.
The agency said that the fugitive had been ‘diagnosed as psychopathic’ and also had possible ‘suicidal tendencies.’
The oldest of four children, Paddock was 7 when his father was arrested for the robberies. A neighbor, Eva Price, took him swimming while FBI agents searched the family home.
She told the Tucson Citizen at the time: ‘We’re trying to keep Steve from knowing his father is held as a bank robber. I hardly know the family, but Steve is a nice boy. It’s a terrible thing.’
At a Monday afternoon press conference, Sheriff Lombardo said that Paddock started preparing for the attack soon after he checked into his two-room suite at the Mandalay Bay last Thursday. He used 10 suitcases to ferry in his weapons, and staff were unaware of what was inside. Police have not revealed when he started bringing the suitcases up to his room.
When a reporter asked why no one thought Paddock suspicious, Lombardo responded: ‘I wish that would’ve happened, ma’am. I absolutely wish that would’ve happened.’
Paddock had committed suicide by the time police breached the door to his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort just after 10pm on Sunday night.
The attack played out as Jason Aldean performed on stage to close out the third and final day of the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, which was taking place across the street from the resort.
Over 22,000 people were in attendance at the sold-out event, and described the attack as ‘nonstop gunfire,’ which only stopped when Paddock went to reload his weapon.
Police said in a press conference early Monday that Paddock’s death was the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
During the chaos, claims of multiple shooters, bombings and suspicious cars circulated, but police said they were only rumors.