FBI investigating new person of interest in Vegas shooting

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking at a new person of interest in connection with the October mass shooting that killed 58 people at a Las Vegas concert, the county sheriff said on Friday.

The gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, killed himself after the rampage carried out from his hotel suite on Las Vegas' famed Strip.

It was the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history. 

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo told a press conference that "the FBI has an ongoing case against an individual of federal interest," but he said he could not elaborate.

Meanwhile the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department also said that Paddock's girlfirend is unlikely to face charges but the FBI was investigating another person in the case, 

The shooters live-in girlfriend, Marilou Danley, had told the FBI she had no idea Paddock was "planning violence against anyone." 

Her attorney, Matt Lombard, could not be reached for comment on the preliminary police report released on Friday.

Danley became a focus of the investigation for having shared his retirement community condo in Mesquite, Nevada, northeast of Las Vegas, before leaving the United States for the Philippines in mid-September.

According to a 81-page preliminary report on the shooting, Danley recalled Paddock behaving strangely during a stay at the Mandalay Bay in early September 2017.

The two were staying in room 60-235 and she observed Paddock constantly looking out the windows of the room which overlooked the Las Vegas Village venue, the report says. Paddock would move from window to window looking at the site from different angles.

Danley also described how Paddock’s demeanor changed over the course of the last year as he became “distant” and “germaphobic,” the report said.

Paddock's primary care doctor described him as odd with little emotion, said he may have been bipolar but Paddock would not discuss it and refused antidepressants, the report said. 

Still no answer to why

Lombardo added, however: "I know and believe there's only one suspect who killed 58 people and injured hundreds more. All the evidence recovered in this case supports that theory." 

He said charges were unlikely to be brought against Paddock's girlfriend Marilou Danley.

Paddock, a wealthy retired accountant and compulsive video poker player who took Valium for anxiety, had "lost a significant amount of his monetary wealth in close proximity to October 1," which may have been a factor behind the attack, Lombardo said.

The sheriff was commenting on an 80-page preliminary report published about the investigation - which included examination of more than 20,000 hours of video. 

The report tracks the sequence of events that began September 17, when Paddock checked into another hotel in Las Vegas, and culminated with the October 1 shooting from the 32nd floor hotel suite.

"This report is not going to answer every question or even answer the biggest question as to why he did what he did," said Lombardo.

"There was no suicide note nor a manifesto left behind. No ideology or radicalisation was discovered."

Photos of child pornography

Daesh had claimed Paddock as one of their "soldiers," but investigators said early on that they found no link to any militant group.

Authorities scouring Paddock's computer usage found searches for firearms and elite police response teams.

They also discovered "numerous photos of child pornography," Lombardo said.

Paddock's brother Bruce was arrested in October in Los Angeles on child pornography charges, as part of a probe that began before the Las Vegas shooting.

Stephen Paddock had stockpiled an arsenal of firearms in his room at the Mandalay Bay hotel before he rained fire down on a country music festival where some 22,000 people had gathered on the night of October 1. 

In addition to the 58 dead, hundreds were wounded. They included 422 people who sustained wounds related to gunfire.

The total number hurt was 851, taking into account others who were injured in the melee, Lombardo said on Friday.