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THE GUNMAN BEHIND the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history led a secret life that has so far thwarted investigators trying to figure out a motive for the attack.
In an effort to try to crack Stephen Paddock’s state of mind, the FBI spent hours yesterday interviewing his longtime girlfriend. Marilou Danley returned to the US on Tuesday from an overseas trip and said she had no inkling of the massacre he was plotting when he sent her to see family in her native Philippines.
“He never said anything to me or took any action that I was aware of that I understood in any way to be a warning that something horrible like this was going to happen,” Danley, 62, said in a statement read by her lawyer outside FBI headquarters in Los Angeles.
Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said it’s difficult to believe Paddock acted alone in the attack on Sunday that killed 59 and injured over 500 people at a country music concert on the Las Vegas Strip.
“Maybe he’s a super guy,” Lombardo said before catching himself and calling it the wrong word. “You know, a super yay-hoo that was working out all this on his own. But it would be hard for me to believe that.”
Danley, whom authorities had previously called “a person of interest”, had been expected to provide insight into the mind of Paddock, who carried out his high-rise massacre without leaving the plain-sight clues often found after major acts of bloodshed.
Lombardo said yesterday that Paddock had 1,600 rounds of ammunition and several containers of an explosive commonly used in target shooting that totalled 50 pounds (23 kg) in his car. But it wasn’t clear what, if anything, Paddock planned with the explosives, he said.
Paddock, who set up surveillance cameras in his room to see anyone approaching outside, also had an escape plan, Lombardo said. He fatally shot himself as police closed in on his luxury suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay resort casino. Lombardo declined to say what led authorities to believe he planned an escape.
The previous weekend, Paddock had rented a high-rise condo in a building that overlooked the Life is Beautiful alternative music festival featuring Chance the Rapper, Muse, Lorde and Blink-182, said Lombardo, who offered no other details about what led Paddock there.
Hotel room
On 28 September, the 64-year-old high-stakes gambler and real estate investor checked into Mandalay Bay and specifically requested an upper-floor room with a view of the Route 91 Harvest music festival, according to a person who has seen hotel records turned over to investigators.
Paddock wasn’t able to move into the room until Saturday, said the person, who was not authorised to speak publicly and disclosed the information to the AP on condition of anonymity.
The room, which goes for $590 (about €500), was given to Paddock for free because he was a good customer who wagered tens of thousands of dollars each time he visited the casino, the person said.
Paddock wired $100,000 (about €85,000) to the Philippines days before the shooting, said a US official who was not authorised to speak publicly because of the continuing investigation. Investigators are trying to trace that money.
Danley, who was overseas for more than two weeks, said she was initially pleased when she was wired money from Paddock to buy a house for her family in the Philippines. But she later feared it was a way to break up with her.
She said she loved Paddock as a “kind, caring, quiet man” and hoped they would have a future together. She said she was devastated by the carnage and would cooperate with authorities as they struggle to get inside Paddock’s mind.
While Paddock had a passion for high-stakes gambling at Nevada casinos, his game of choice was video poker, a relatively solitary pursuit with no dealer and no humans to play against. And while neighbours described Paddock as friendly, he wasn’t close to them.
“He was a private guy. That’s why you can’t find out anything about him,” his brother Eric Paddock said from his home in Florida. As for what triggered the massacre, the brother said: “Something happened that drove him into the pit of hell.”
Paddock had no known criminal history. Public records contained no indication of any financial problems, and his brother described him as a wealthy real estate investor.
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump met privately with victims at a Las Vegas hospital yesterday and then with police officers and dispatchers, praising them and the doctors who treated the wounded.
“Our souls are stricken with grief for every American who lost a husband or a wife, a mother or a father, a son or a daughter,” he said. “We know that your sorrow feels endless. We stand together to help you carry your pain.”
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One could be forgiven for thinking the powers that be could concoct a better story than this; they’ve plenty of experience now… More holes in this version of events than a colander.
@Counter Punch: its a strange one indeed. The level of planning to get to the window with the weapon. And then everything gets haphazard. Dosent add up.
@Dearbhla Russell: level of planning? All he had to do was request a room with a specific view we’ve all done it while checking in to hotels and sure no one would have paid attention to him carrying a duffle bag ( containing guns ammunition) thru the hotel.if he made a few trips to and from his room every few hours no one would notice as lots of people would have been walking around with bags etc as it’s also a convention centre. As for it turning out haphazard would you class haphazard killing over 60 people and wounding over 500 people?
@Dearbhla Russell: what level of planning? The hotel website allows you to pick your room.
@Dave O Keeffe: the tinfoil hat brigade have arrived
The conspiracy theory bullsh!t is a sign of psychosis. Get help.
@Gearoid O’Helidhe: maybe he is help
@Dearbhla Russell: yeah, who would have thought firing a machine gun into a crowd would go haphazard?…….Oh yeah, everyone who isnt an idiot.What exactly did you think would happen?
@Counter Punch: Speaking of colanders, is yours feeling somewhat tight this morning?
@Counter Punch: Seems like you caught a bad dose of paranoid delusional dumbphuckerism.
@Jamie: have you any idea the level of training required to operate the advanced automatic weaponry they’re claiming the retired accountant used?
@JimmyMc: There were absolutely no automatic weapons found in the room ornused in the attack. There were modified semi automatic weapons used with a bump stock that anyone in Nevada could buy for $200. No training required at all.
@Counter Punch: Go off now and get yourself a tinfoil hat.
@JimmyMc: Did you even read the article that you posted as a rebuttle? It goes into great detail explaining my point. It specificallu explains how a bumb stock was used on semi automatic weapons and explains how easy they are to buy. It also, not even once, mentions the high level of training you claim would have been required. The sad truth is this guy was unstable but also highly intelligent and very well funded. A lethal combination that unfortunately allowed him to plan a crime of such horror so meticulously.
I really love what the journal comments have become, in a post-apocalyptic kind of way, like mad max
@Paul P O’Sullivan: you said there were no automatic weapons in the rooms-the article clearly contradicts you.
@JimmyMc: No it doesn’t, it says exactly what he said, no automatic weapons but semi auto with bump stocks to make them behave like automatics. What is wrong with you exactly, are you really this stupid or is there something else going on here?
Idiots… Idiots everywhere.
What was on the note and why does the hotel receipt show he was in the room on the 27th and ordered dinner for 2 to be taken to the room? Who was the woman who told people at the concert they were all going to die? This was planned, why target that particular festival? There is a lot not being released.
@John Mc Grath: of course it was planned Sherlock
@Jamie: oh sorry it must so obvious to you why he planned to target that festival
@John Mc Grath: the women that said “they’re all around us WE are all going to die”? You’re taking a woman saying that at a festival as a solid lead? Dinner for two was ordered to that room in the 27th? Wasn’t that while he was in the other room? The one he was in before his final room was available.
@John Mc Grath: my bad, he checked in on the 28th. So what’s that you were saying about dinner for two being ordered to the room by him the day before he got there?
@John Mc Grath: I’m not saying it’s obvious why he targeted it I’m saying it was obviously planned
@Jamie: oh great thanks for that contribution so
@John Mc Grath: The festival he chose might have been opportunistic. There are reports saying he booked multiple condos with line of sight of the life is beautiful festival. So who knows.
@Dave O Keeffe: there is a receipt with his name and suite number on it for the 27th showing dinner ordered to the room for 2. Now maybe he was just hungry, but why are saying he checked in on the 28th.
@Dave O Keeffe: no there is an interview with a girl just after it happened, she said there was women who was thrown out of the concert and she shouted to everyone “You are all going to die tonight” the girls states this happened 45 mins before the shooting started.
@John Mc Grath: Yeah, and that’s where I got the quote I gave. “they’re all around us WE are all going to die”
@John Mc Grath: look at the first sentence under the subheading ‘Hotel Room’ where did you see the receipt?
@John Mc Grath: just saw the receipt. It is interesting. But it’s a burger a bagel and soup. One person could definitely eat that. Also yes it say two guests but isn’t that the way the service charge is applied after it wasn’t his ID that was used to check in? The receipt definitely is troubling. But it’s not enough. Even the tweet from the server implies there was only one person there. I’d be interested to know which room he was in until the room he used was available on the Saturday. It’s not uncommon in cases where the guest is in one room temporarily but will finish their stay in a different room for the final room to be the number in the bill. Also, that you’re entire story come from infowars is alarming
@John Mc Grath: one thing that Loomer doesn’t mention from the servers Facebook post is that the server said Paddock was alone. He said it gave him chills to think that he was alone with him for several minutes.
@John Mc Grath:
I posted a link to this earlier. It’s since been taken down from Twitter.
Here’s another link.
Who knows how long before they take this one down too.
https://twitter.com/joshdcaplan/status/914769514222571520
@Dave O Keeffe: Didn’t get info from info wars. Don’t have a story, i haven’t made any assertions as to motive, just a few questions.
@John Mc Grath: the Canadian Breitbart is where the story originated and since then the “media personality” that got it has gone to infowars with it. You saw the receipt and that it was clearly not too much for one person. You saw the tweet and that the server said there was only Paddock in the room. The date thing is really all that’s in this.
@Dave O Keeffe: the date may have a simple explanation also.
@John Mc Grath: quite probably. My guess is that either he checked in very late in the 27th which is why his room wasn’t ready but the food was charged to the room he would be paying for at checkout time. But it is just a guess.
At this stage I think it is fair to say there is a lot we are not being told. What was written on the note ?
@Joe Caulfield: what note?
@Dave O Keeffe: There’s a note on the table that you can see in the picture of his room, you can also see his body in the picture
@Joe Caulfield: I’d guess a standard FU to everyone note, but the gun lobby don’t want to hear the ‘normal’ responsible gun owner turned crazed gunman idea. They prefer a specific agenda or a conspiracy that doesn’t implicate the multiple weapon culture.
@Joe Caulfield: oh right, you mean what was written on the thing that looks like a piece of paper on the table? As soon as you can prove that there is something relevant on it then you can say we’re not being told something. Otherwise you’re asking us why the police aren’t telling is about an unrelated piece of paper.
@Joe Caulfield: Yeah because the police always report what is said in suicide notes.
Why would the police release every bit of evidence they have anyway??
If there are more people involved then these pieces of evidence could help convict accomplices.
Basic police work I would have thought.
You should watch more tv.
@Darren Cooney: no, there’s a piece of paper. you know yourself in hotel rooms every table has some leaflet about something they’re trying to sell you. Could even be tissue. It looks like the little folded envelope hotels give you your room key in to me. No proof whatsoever that there’s anything written on whatever it is and no proof that police are hiding things from us. PS since when do polce share details of open investigations?
@Dave O Keeffe: I don’t know much about crime scenes thankfully, but I’ve seen a lot of commentary on social media from guys who claim the entire scene is out of place. They claim there’s no presence of residue from the firing of thousands of rounds, that there is a rifle laid out across his lap.
There’s also a lot of discussion on shootings in other hotels, reported first hand from hotel staff. Not sure why they would fabricate a story but I sure hope it’s not true…
@Simon O’Connor: shootings in other hotels? Do tell.
@Dave O Keeffe: I had seen reports of other gunmen in the Bollagio, Caesers and the Tropicana hotels. Unsure if it’s true but I’d seen screenshots from apparent employees. I’m not sure why they would fabricate a story but is it possible that the police didn’t want to spread fear of a terror attack? Who knows
@Simon O’Connor: None of us were there to see what really happened, but a lot of people are making enough noise to raise legitimate questions. There’s no smoke without fire
@Simon O’Connor: where did you see the reports?
@Dave O Keeffe: Circulating on FB and Twitter
@Dave O Keeffe: People were confused as to why it escaped media coverage
@Simon O’Connor: who said it on FB and twitter? Was it people that were there or people that said people that were there said it? Also there’s a possibility that people heard guns and thought it was nearer than it was. Or heard an announcement over the hotel PA system and went straight to Twitter. So many issues with using Facebook and Twitter as sources, but I think you already know that
ISIS claim it was one of their own, The FBI immediately say not a chance and at the same time have been digging for a Trump/Russia bogus collusion link for months now with no success, The scary part is, no one is sure who to believe.
@Remy: As a rule of thumb, anything you post, I don’t believe.
@WinSomeLoseSome:
Your new account Atheos?
@Remy: hmmm, actually I’ve never seen me and Atheos in the same room at the same time!! : )
I have one profile, and it is my first profile. You will find that more than one person will disagree with you in life. The conspiracy theorist in you will mean you don’t believe me, but guess what, I couldn’t care less.
@WinSomeLoseSome:
Funny that, you cared enough to reply to my original post, thanks for your wisdom and life advice:/ your a star. Ahem.
@Remy: eh, isn’t Robert Mueller doing that investigation? The FBI are investigating the election interference (which Trump admits happened) , Mueller is investigating the possible collusion. I know facts are difficult to retain but please do try
@Dave O Keeffe:
Haha any day now, fingers crossed eh Dave.
@Dave O Keeffe:
The only ones that believe in “Russiagate” are those that desperately need to.
@Remy: show me anywhere that I’ve ever said that the president colluded? I’ve said the opposite many, many, many times. Others around him attempted to and have admitted as much though.
No cctv yet?
@TravellingTheWorld: I’m sure there’s plenty of it but what benefit would it have to the investigation releasing it to the general public?
@TravellingTheWorld: which narrative have you come to push today? Some day soon you and your tin foil hat brigade will reach a consensus.
@Dave O Keeffe: Let’s be reasonable here. For every Islamic terrorist attack, footage of the perpetrator(s) has been released. With well over 600 casualties the footage must be released to the public. Let’s see this guy walking around the hotel lobby on his own. How about the CCTV footage showing him entering and leaving his room?
@Simon O’Connor: and the difference here is that this shooting did not happen in a public place. In public there are many private and public cameras. In the hotel there is only private CCTV. Also when they release footage in ISIS related attacks it’s because they are looking for someone.
@Dave O Keeffe: Seriously dude, a hotel is a public place. He shot down onto the main strip in Vegas and wounded more than 600 people. When the last guy shot up the club in Florida the images were released almost instantly.
All I’m saying is, something isn’t adding up here
@Simon O’Connor: They release the footage even when the perp has been taken out. It’s in the public interest.
@Simon O’Connor: a hotel is a private place? Tell that to the owners. It’s private property. In ISIS incidents they are looking for any possible clues and accomplices because it happened in a wide open public place with no entrance that everyone had to use whereas in a hotel they have footage of absolutely everybody that was there and in the majority of cases they have copies of IDs or bank details.
@Dave O Keeffe: A hotel is a privately owned building but is required by law to meet the standards of a public place – fire protection in construction, monitoring etc, surveillance.
His room is the only area which may be deemed as private. If he’s in the lobby it’s certainly a public place.
I’m only asking questions here, not looking for a game of tennis with you
@Dave O Keeffe: In any case, what rational hotel management would withhold this information. The sheriff has already suggested that there may be an accomplice – could this person still be at large?
@Simon O’Connor: his room is the only place that can be deemed private TO HIM! You’re not getting it. The hotel is privately owned, all of the CCTV is property of the hotel. If they don’t want it released publicly it won’t be. If the police deem it important and need to release it they will, but as far as I’m aware they would still need the hotels consent.
@Dave O Keeffe: Yeah because the hotel management would hold back on the footage after a mass murder. And I’m missing the point? You’re just looking for an argument now buddy, go and get it elsewhere
@Simon O’Connor: I’m really not. I’m just pointing out that security footage is property of the hotel, which is private property. What would they gain by releasing it? Guests that Google there hotel years in the future will find it. They’re a business.
Something really suss about this whole thing. Also discovered that he owned 2 planes and one was contracted to do work for the US intelligence community. And what about the 100k wired to the Philippines the week before?
Gun law in US is insane – starting to really dislike the US
@carodeer: I’ve lost all respect for the country. They love their guns more than their kids. 7000 of their children are shot each year. It’s the NRA Board of Directors these suicidal psychos should take out for the post death infamy they seek, rather than innocents
Someone claims in this video there’s gunfire from the fourth floor. Was there more than one shooter???
https://twitter.com/TBoneTodd24/status/915676218745397249
@Feach News: that’s just a reflection of something flashing. The same flashing can bee seen in other videos before the shooting starts Vegas is full of lights
@Feach News: how did they get the bullets thru the glass window without breaking them if there was a shooter on the fourth floor?
@John Mc Grath: Plus, other windows would be broke
@Ryan Keegan: I’d pay no attention to him going by his name he probably had some mad explanation that it was s false flag attack the windows were probably replaced that night or some off the wall crap
@Jamie: Insane! Its all over social media too. ‘IF’ there was a second shooter, they were in the same room as that lunatic
@Jamie:
Why do you assume there aren’t other windows broken in the hotel.
@Feach News: Seriously?
@Ryan Keegan:
Get a load of this one.
@Feach News: you need to get out more
@Feach News: “Someone claims” — Someone is a really credible source. If someone said it, it must be true.
@WinSomeLoseSome:
Don’t shoot the messanger
@Feach News: What if there isn’t really a message?
@WinSomeLoseSome:
What if there is?
@Feach News: think, if there’s a shooter in a hotel shooting onto the street and you’re in the hotel, where would you go? It looks odd everyone standing around but logically they were in the safest place possible already. Also your second link is either broken or removed, it doesn’t do anything.
It will be interesting to see what meds he was on? Antidepressants played a very major role in the Aurora shooting. BBC Panorama’s “Prescription to Murder” was a fascinating insight.
@Chemical Brothers: possibly none. They have found no history of mental illness.
@Dave O Keeffe: He was on Valium according to the media
@Simon O’Connor: interesting. What media?
Same shi1te after sandy hook, “this never happened”, “it was a false flag”, “look closely the same actors were parents at sandy hook and movie goers in aurora” conspiracy theorists and crazies live for it
@johnp: Here we come with this crap again. Next they’ll be saying there was a pedophile ring being run by HRC from the lobby of Mandalay Bay.
He simply flipped ,may be a tumour on the brain I think the results of the pm might provide some answers ,before the conspiracy theorist s really get their teeth into it.
I’m not buying any of this until the CCTV footage of him in the hotel is a released. Vegas is one of the heaviest monitored cities in the world, and with any other terrorist / non-terrorist massacres, footage of the perp would have been released by now
Maybe it was the violent video poker games that caused this.
Maybe he was diagnosed with an illness and wanted to go out with a bang.
Maybe he was that annoyed with the world that he wanted to indiscriminately take his revenge and anger out on innocent people, he doesn’t have to live with the consequences of his actions, he doesn’t even have to live with the sad stories of who have been affected. Here we have a 60+year old millionaire, with no underlying mental health issues, no underlying criminal record, family and a girlfriend.
Maybe this is one that doesn’t need a clear obvious motive
Mandalay Bay surveillance CCTV footage should be interesting, if they ever get released that is.
There’s unrefutable visual evidence now that he actually tally checked in before the 28th so I don’t why they’re still saying he checked in on the 28th. Something they’re not telling us about this one.
@Ciaran Fairley: Where?
maybe they killed him
Watch this
have your say