LAS VEGAS: The girlfriend of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock arrived back in the United States Tuesday evening and was met by FBI agents eager to hear whatever she might know about the motive behind his slaying of 58 people and wounding of more than 500 in the worst mass shooting in US history.
Although the FBI wants to talk to her, Marilou Danley, 62, is not in custody – she is classified as a “person of interest” to investigators – and is free to go wherever she wants, US media reported.
She was in the Philippines when Paddock opened fire with high-power rifles from a 32nd floor hotel room Sunday night at a sea of concertgoers below on the Las Vegas strip.
Authorities are investigating reports that while she was in the Philippines, Paddock wired her $100,000.
Danley is an Australian citizen who moved to the United States 20 years ago to work on the casino strip, the Australian government confirmed Tuesday.
As America mourned, President Donald Trump prepared to visit the desert city Wednesday. He has branded Paddock a “demented man.”
Beyond Trump’s assessment, authorities were at a loss as to how a 64-year-old gambler and retired accountant had hauled a vast arsenal of weapons to the hotel and launched his assault.
Meanwhile, victims began to be identified in the media, each new story stirring emotions as America once again grappled with calls for reforms to its permissive firearm control laws.
Trump was not ready to suggest answers.
“What happened in Las Vegas is in many ways a miracle,” he said. “The police department has done such an incredible job, and we’ll be talking about gun laws as time goes by.”
US officials have reacted cautiously to a claim by the Islamic State militant group that the shooter had carried out Sunday night’s massacre on its behalf.
Experts cautioned that the group – under pressure in its Syrian and Iraqi heartlands – may be trying to rally its supporters with a false claim.
