Watch CBS News

'I Am Devastated' -- Las Vegas Shooter's Girlfriend Says Of Massacre

LOS ANGELES (CBS SF & AP) -- The Las Vegas shooter's girlfriend said Wednesday she was devastated by his actions and had no knowledge of his plans when she left to visit her family in the Philippines.

Marilou Danley's lawyer said Wednesday she plans to cooperate fully with the investigation of her boyfriend Stephen Paddock. He then read a prepared statement from her.

"I am devastated by the deaths and injuries that occurred and my prayers go out to the victims and their families...My heart breaks for all who have lost loved ones," the statement said. "I knew Steven Paddock as a kind, caring, quiet man. I loved him and hoped for a quiet future together with him."

"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."

LAS VEGAS MASSACRE: Continuing Coverage

Defense attorney Matthew Lombard spoke in Los Angeles after Danley met with FBI agents to discuss Sunday's carnage on the Las Vegas strip. She returned to the U.S. Tuesday night from the Philippines, where she was visiting family.

While she was there, Paddock, a high-stakes gambler, sent her $100,000. Lombard says she was not expecting the money and worried that he was breaking up with her.

Danley spoke with the FBI for several hours as investigators struggled to get inside the mind of Paddock, a frustratingly opaque figure who carried out his high-rise massacre without leaving the plain-sight clues often found after major acts of bloodshed.

Danley, 62, who has been called a "person of interest" by investigators.

Investigators are busy reconstructing Paddock's life, behavior and the people he encountered in the weeks leading up to the deadliest mass shooting in modern
U.S. history, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said. That includes examining his computer and cellphone.

But as of Wednesday, investigators were unable to explain what led Paddock to rain heavy fire down on a country music festival Sunday night from the windows of his 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay hotel casino. He killed himself as police closed in. The attack left more than 500 people injured.

"This individual and this attack didn't leave the sort of immediately accessible thumbprints that you find on some mass casualty attacks," McCabe said.

The 64-year-old retired accountant quietly stockpiled an arsenal of high-powered weapons while pursuing a passion for high-stakes gambling at Nevada casinos, where his game of choice was video poker, a relatively solitary pursuit with no dealer and no humans to play against.

Neighbors described Paddock as friendly, but 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."

Occasionally, Paddock shared news of his gambling winnings, his brother said, recalling a photo text message he received showing a $40,000 payout.

It was in a casino where Paddock met his girlfriend, who was a high-limit hostess for Club Paradise at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno, Eric Paddock told The Washington Post.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.