The sisters of Marilou Danley – the girlfriend of the Las Vegas gunman, who killed at least 59 people – have revealed the reason she left the US before the massacre took place.
They spoke out during an emotional interview, after Danley, the partner of shooter Stephen Paddock, returned to LA after investigating officers revealed she was a ‘person of interest’.
Police believe Danley, who is originally from Australia, may be able to shed light on the motive behind her partner’s gun attack on crowds at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on Sunday night.
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Paddock fired at crowds from a 32nd floor window of the Mandalay Bay hotel, killing 59 people and injuring a further 500.
Following the attack, Las Vegas police said they were searching for Danley, who was later found to be in the Philippines where she’d been since September 22nd.
Her sisters told Yahoo 7 News they weren’t expecting her visit and while breaking down in tears on camera, one sister, who did not wish to be named, said Danley ‘doesn’t know anything like us’, adding:
She was sent away. She was away so that she will not be there to interfere with what he’s planning.
She didn’t even know that she was going to the Philippines until Steve said ‘Marilou, I found you a cheap ticket to the Philippines’.
In that sense I thank him for sparing my sister’s life, but that won’t be to compensate the 59 people’s lives.
Paddock, who seemingly killed himself in the hotel room before officers arrived, has been found to have had no criminal record and was not known to police.
In his hotel room, police found 23 guns as well as further firearms and explosives at his home – in total, 47 firearms have been recovered, officials said.
The sisters also revealed Danley was sent £98,000 ($127,000), but did not say what it was for.
They also believe their sister might be the only person who can ‘put the puzzles together’ as Paddock is dead.
One of the sisters said:
To be able to find out the person you love and live with can do such a thing and you thought you know the person yourself.
Paddock, who is behind the deadliest shooting in modern US history, has a brother who has spoken out to the media.
Eric Paddock said his family have been left stunned by the news, according to The Independent.
They reported he’d spoken with Reuters in a telephone conversation, saying:
We have no idea. We’re horrified. We’re bewildered and our condolences go out to the victims. We have no idea in the world.
Video footage was captured by those caught up in the tragic attack, with some initially mistaking the gunfire for fireworks.
There have been multiple eyewitness accounts of the event, including one from poker player Dan Bilzerian, as well as an audience member who told ABC News he held a man in his arms as he died.
Mike Cronk, 48, told ABC News:
I was at the concert there and Jason Aldea was playing and it sounded like some fireworks going off and then I think that was the first volley and then all of a sudden there was this second volley.
My buddy was like ‘I just got hit’ and he got hit three times. People started diving for the ground and it just continued and it was pretty much chaotic and lots of people got hit.
It took a while to get him out, we had to get him over the fence and hiding under the stage to be safe and finally we had to move him because he had three chest wounds.
Our thoughts are with all the people affected.
