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Did Las Vegas gunman have an accomplice? Police seeking 'mystery woman' seen with Stephen Paddock

Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and injured hundreds more in Las Vegas in America’s worst ever mass shooting before turning the gun on himself before police could reach him.

But Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo believes the 64-year-old had help in stocking up the 23 rifles and piles of magazines in his room at the Mandalay Bay hotel, as well as the firearms and electronic devices found in his home in Mesquite, Nevada.

Police are now trying to identify a ‘mystery woman’ seen with Paddock in the days before he carried out the massacre.

There is no evidence she was involved in the shooting, according to police officials, but officers would like to speak to her to establish a timeline of the killer’s movements in the days before the atrocity.

Lombardo told reporters: “Look at the weapon obtaining, the amounts of Tannerite available – do you think this was accomplished all on his own, face value?

Stephen Paddock slaughtered 58 people using a stockpile of weapons. Source: PA via Yahoo UK
Stephen Paddock slaughtered 58 people using a stockpile of weapons. Source: PA via Yahoo UK
Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo believes Paddock had an accomplice. Source: PA via Yahoo UK
Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo believes Paddock had an accomplice. Source: PA via Yahoo UK

“You gotta make the assumption he had to have help at some point, and we want to ensure that’s the answer.”

He added: “Put two and two together: another residence in Reno with several firearms, okay, electronics, and everything else associated with it, large amounts of ammo, a place in Mesquite.

“We know that he had a girlfriend. Do you think this is all self-facing, individuals are just, without talking to somebody, sequestered amongst themselves? Come on, folks.”

Ms Danley, Paddock’s 62-year-old girlfriend, insisted she had no idea about her boyfriend’s deadly plan when he sent her on a trip abroad to see her family.

She issued the statement after returning from her native Philippines and being questioned for much of the day by FBI agents still trying to figure out what drove Paddock to kill 58 people at the country music festival from his 32nd-floor hotel suite.

Paddock holed himself up in a room in the Mandalay Bay hotel to carry out his attack. Source: PA via Yahoo UK
Paddock holed himself up in a room in the Mandalay Bay hotel to carry out his attack. Source: PA via Yahoo UK

Ms Danley said in the statement: “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.”

Ms Danley, who out of the country for more than two weeks, said she was initially pleased when Paddock wired her money in the Philippines to buy a house for her family, but she later feared it was a way to break up with her.

She added: “It never occurred to me in any whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone.”

Ms Danley, who has been called a “person of interest” by investigators, said she knew Paddock as a “kind, caring, quiet man” and hoped they would have a future together.

She said she was devastated by the carnage and she would cooperate with authorities as they struggle to get inside Paddock’s mind.

Police found a cache of firearms in Paddock’s Mesquite home. Source: PA via Yahoo UK
Police found a cache of firearms in Paddock’s Mesquite home. Source: PA via Yahoo UK

Paddock had stockpiled 47 guns since 1982 and bought 33 of them, mostly rifles, over the past year alone, right up until three days before the attack, according to Jill Snyder, an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.