Stephen Paddock, 64, was responsible for the worst mass shooting in modern history.
Summary: Police are still searching for Stephen Paddock’s motive.
It has been four days since the Las Vegas massacre, and police are still trying to piece together why Stephen Paddock committed the atrocity. On Wednesday afternoon, they spoke with his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, and they also learned that he had considered an attack in Chicago.
On Sunday, Paddock, 64, had shot into the crowd of a country music concert, killing 59 and wounding over 500. He had checked into the hotel on Thursday and had brought in nineteen weapons and thousands of bullets for his carefully planned attack.
Before the shooting, his girlfriend said that he had surprised her with a plane ticket to the Philippines to see her family. Weeks before, he had transferred almost $100,000 there in different increments so that her family could purchase a home. Danley told authorities that she thought Paddock had made these moves in an attempt to later break up with her.
Danley said that she had no idea he was about to commit the act of terror and she expressed her condolences to the victims. She said that Paddock was a kind man who she wanted a future with.
“I knew Stephen Paddock as a kind, caring, quiet man,” Danley said in the statement. “I loved him and hoped for a quiet future together with him.”
Danley was unable to shed much light on Paddock’s dark side, which manifested in months of planning a big terrorist act.
In September, Paddock had rented a room in Las Vegas near a different music festival called Life Is Beautiful. Authorities said that in the summer he had also booked a room in a Chicago hotel overlooking Lollapalooza, which had almost 100,000 guests.
Authorities said that it is unclear whether or not Paddock intended to shoot up those concerts or if he was doing some sort of surveillance of the areas.
After the shooting, Las Vegas police raided Paddock’s home, where they found a stockpile of guns and ammunition and explosives in his car. They said that as of now it appears that Paddock worked alone, but they have not ruled out the idea of him having an accomplice.
“Stephen Paddock is a man who spent decades acquiring weapons and ammo and living a secret life, much of which will never be fully understood,” Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo said.
Danley said that she voluntarily flew back to the United States so that she could talk to authorities after the shooting.
Danley’s sisters told an Australian TV station that they believed Paddock had sent her away, knowing that he was about to do the evil act.
“She was sent away. She was sent away so that she will be not there to interfere with what he’s planning,” one of Danley’s sisters said to Seven News. “In that sense, I thank him for sparing my sister’s life.”