Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock seen with mystery woman days before attack
With no clear motive established three days after the Las Vegas shooting, investigators are turning to a mystery woman seen with gunman Stephen Paddock in the days before the attack, according to officials.
Law enforcement officials told NBC they are trying to identify the woman and speak to her to gain a better idea of how the 64-year-old spent his last days.
It remains unclear what contact she had with Paddock and whether she had any information regarding the shooting.
Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said at a news conference Wednesday night that Paddock, who had a huge arsenal of 47 firearms, along with explosive materials found in his car and home, must have had some help - although it remains unclear who would have assisted him.
“He had to have some help at some point,” Lombardo said. “Maybe he’s a super-guy. … Maybe he’s super-yahoo, was working out all this on his own, but it would be hard for me to believe that.”
Those closest to Paddock were unable to offer an explanation for his heinous actions.
His girlfriend Marilou Danley, who was abroad in Asia during the shooting, returned to the U.S. on Tuesday.
In a statement issued through her lawyer, Danley said, “It never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone.”
His brother Eric Paddock said, “Something broke in his head is the only thing possible. Did he have a stroke? I’m hoping they cut open his brain and find something. There’s a data point missing.”
Where other mass killers have left behind a trail of plain-sight clues that help investigators quickly understand what drove them to violence, Paddock,had nearly no close friends, social media presence or other clear connections to the broader world.
Working with what little they know, investigators have zeroed in on a weapon-buying binge Paddock went on one year before he gunned down 58 people Sunday at a country music festival from a 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay casino resort before killing himself.
They wonder if he had some sort of mental break at the time that drove him to start making plans for mass murder.
They also know he rented an apartment in a Las Vegas high-rise over another music festival the weekend before the massacre, though not why.
They know he was a major gambler and are looking at related records, though even in very public casinos he played the very private game of video poker.
They know he had a plan to survive the shooting and try to escape, though would not say how.
“This individual and this attack didn’t leave the sort of immediately accessible thumbprints that you find on some mass casualty attacks,” FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said.
“Putting aside the somewhat dubious claims of responsibility that we see in each one of these instances, we look for actual indicators of affiliation, of motive, of intent, and so far we’re not there. We don’t have those sort of indicators.”
With News Wire Services
