On Sunday evening, a gunman opened fire at a country music festival killing at least 58 people, not including the gunman, and injuring over 500 more near the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.
According to reports, Marilou Danley is the girlfriend of Stephen Paddock, the man who killed nearly 60 people at a music festival in Las Vegas. Danley returned to the United States from the Philippines, according to the recent reports. Danley, who is 62, was met at Los Angeles International Airport by FBI agents on Tuesday night after flying from Manila. Investigators reportedly told Danley she was a “person of interest” in the investigation.
USA Today reports Danley was born in the Philippines and moved to Queensland in eastern Australia during the early 1980s. She is said to have left Australia for the United States in 1989, where she worked in casinos. USA Today reports Danley first arrived in the Philippines on September 15th and departed on September then returned three days later on a flight from Hong Kong.
Before Danley moved in with Paddock and became a “person of interest,” she was described as a “Great neighbor” and would host parties and sleepovers for the neighborhood kids.
Danley’s sister said they believe Paddock sent her out of the country so she would not interfere with his plans, Australian media outlets reported on Wednesday. Her two sisters, who currently live in Australia, were interviewed by Australia’s Channel 7 network.
“She was away so that she will be not there to interfere with what he’s planning,” one of the women told Channel 7. “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’.” She went on to describe her sister as “a good person and gentle soul,” and said she “seemed madly in love with Steve.”
Paddock reportedly transferred $100,000 to the Philippines days before the shooting. But it is not clear whether or not the money was sent to Danley. At this time, USA Today reports the FBI is trying to trace where the money went.
Police have not revealed the type of weapons that Paddock used in the mass-shooting. That said, in the state of Nevada, gun owners do not need a permit to buy a rifle, shotgun or handgun. Also, Nevadans can purchase machine guns or silences, weapons that are banned in other states, as long as they comply with federal regulations. “He passed every federal background check, every time he bought a gun,’’ owner Janis Sullivan, 67, told USA TODAY.