Las Vegas Shooting: Investigators Search For Signs Of Accomplice; Girlfriend Says She Was Clueless

LAS VEGAS, NV — Investigators suspect that Stephen Paddock may have had help gathering the arsenal he used to kill 58 people and injure more than 500 others during his rampage Sunday, and the gunman's girlfriend said Wednesday that she had no idea the slaughter was being planned.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said Wednesday that it appeared Paddock believed he could escape his room on the 32nd floor of a hotel on the Vegas strip after firing on a crowded concert below.The gunman apparently thought he could inflict even more damage, the sheriff said, citing thousands of rounds of ammunition in his room and several dozen pounds of newly disclosed chemicals in his car. More than 30 weapons were found in the room and two properties owned by Paddock.

The sheriff also said that while investigators have found no signs of an accomplice in the shooting, the sheer size of Paddock's arsenal is being taken into account.

“You’ve got to make the assumption he had to have some help at some point,” the sheriff said.

Lombardo also revised the number injured in the attack to 489. He said 317 had been discharged from the hospital. Paddock's death brought the total killed to 59.

Meanwhile, Marilou Danley, Paddock's girlfriend, said Wednesday she had no warning about his plans to carry out the massacre.

“I knew Stephen Paddock as a kind, caring, quiet man,” she said in a statement read by her attorney. “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.”

With all of Wednesday's developments, police still had no clearer picture on what led the 64-year-old gunman's horrific shooting rampage.

(For updates on the shooting and daily news from Las Vegas, sign up for the Patch morning newsletter and Breaking News Alerts.)

Video Shows Vegas Gunman's Room In 2016

Stories of heroes born and victims lost continue to emerge. At a press conference Tuesday evening, officials reported that a security guard at the hotel, who was called "very heroic," was wounded during the assault when the shooter fired at him through door of the room from which he carried out the attack. Police believe it may have been the security guard's approach that stopped Paddock's gunfire. The security guard provided valuable information to police, according to the report.

Hundreds gathered for multiple vigils after dusk Monday in Las Vegas. Attendees sang and prayed together. One high school student, Ethan Dimayo, held a sign that read, "We Are Strong, We Are Battleborn," according to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The stories of those injured and killed during the attack continued to be shared among friends, families and loved ones. There was Bill Wolfe, a wrestling coach from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, who was at the show with his wife, Robyn. Tina Frost, a 2008 graduate of Arundel High School in Maryland, was in a coma after being shot in the eye. Jennifer Irvine, a family law and criminal defense attorney from San Diego, died in the attack and was remembered by a friend on Facebook as "a shining light that will not be extinguished by a gutless coward with a gun."

The Victims Of The Las Vegas Shooting

The incident, as awful and evil as it was, brought out the best in some people. Among the flurry of gunfire, people stood up and pulled each other out of harm's way. There were stories of spouses shielding their significant others from bullets. People carrying complete strangers to waiting ambulances. Lindsay Padgett and Mark Jay obliged a stranger who hailed them down and said their pickup was needed as a makeshift ambulance. After loading up the pickup with victims, Padgett and Jay drove through roadblocks and over curbs to ferry the victims to the hospital.

“I just feel like that’s what you do,” Padgett told KTNV-TV. “When people need help, you have to take them to the hospital.”

Chilling Video Shows Terror As Gunman Opens Fire On The Crowd

Across the nation, people in coffee shops and restaurants, on social media and over family dinners ponder one big question: What in the world made this guy do this?

Paddock perched on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, just across a street from the concert, with an arsenal of 23 firearms, investigators have learned. Just after 10 p.m. local time on Sunday, Paddock began unloading into the crowd below. Lombardo said Tuesday that the shooting spree lasted nine minutes.

Watch: Tears And Grief At UNLV Vigil

Despite the large death toll and hundreds of wounded, authorities say that police reacted quickly and Paddock shot himself to death as officers blew open his hotel door.

A search of Paddock's car after the shooting turned up several pounds of ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound that was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of the Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. It's a chilling discovery: The worst mass shooting in modern America could have been worse.

Investigators also found explosives and additional guns at the retired accountant’s home near Nevada’s border with Arizona. At another home in Reno, police found five handguns and two shotguns as well as some additional electronic equipment. Inside and outside of Paddock's hotel room, police also found cameras, presumably to alert him of police "looking to take him into custody," Lombardo said during a press conference on Tuesday.

In total, police found a total of 47 guns in Paddock's possession at three different locations. He was found with 12 firearms with legal "bump-fire" stocks, which essentially convert semi-automatic weapons into automatic weapons.

According to a report Tuesday night from Foreign Policy, a joint report from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security found in December that large open venues could be prime targets for lone shooters or terrorists. It does not contain any information about specific threats, but it names the Las Vegas strip as a particularly vulnerable area to exactly the type of attack that occurred.

>>> Las Vegas Shooting: These Are The Victims

Police are still puzzling over Paddock’s motives. Authorities say he had a penchant for guns, high-limit video poker and real estate deals. His father was a notorious fugitive bank robber. He had a recent live-in girlfriend and two ex-wives and seemed to live a comfortable life in a Nevada retirement community.

While ISIS has claimed credit for the attack, police are not convinced he had any ties to the group at this point.

Police on Tuesday revealed that Paddock wired $100,000 to the Philippines, which led police to renew their interest in his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, according to NBC News. Police have said Danley, who was in the Philippines on Sunday when Paddock opened fire on a crowd, was not believed to be involved in the attack.

However, "she is a person of interest," said Lombardo.

On the surface, Paddock didn't seem like a typical mass murderer, said Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI hostage negotiator and supervisor in the bureau's behavioral science unit. Paddock is much older than the typical shooter and was not known to be suffering from mental illness.

"My challenge is, I don't see any of the classic indicators, so far, that would suggest, 'OK, he's on the road either to suicide or homicide or both,'" Van Zandt said.

Watch: Gunman Had 23 Firearms At Hotel, 19 More At Home

Questioned on Monday by reporters about Paddock’s motive, Lombardo said he could not "get into the mind of a psychopath at this point."

>>> Las Vegas Shooting: Mom Tells How She Protected Young Daughter: Video

President Trump, on his way Tuesday to Puerto Rico to witness hurricane devastation, reiterated that "it was very much of a miracle" that police were able to stop Paddock before he killed more people. "We're dealing with a very, very sick individual," said Trump, who is expected to visit Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Officials declared a state of emergency in Vegas' Clark County on Monday afternoon in the wake of the chaos. In the declaration, the county manager acknowledged that a "significant number of community resources in public safety, public health, health care, and emergency management have been expended and will continue for weeks to come."

>>> Since Columbine, Denver Officials Have Been Training For Active Threats

Across the country, just as Major League Baseball is about to kick off postseason play, authorities are asking themselves if their venues are safe. Many pledged increased security.

>>> After Las Vegas Shooting, Security At Concerts Comes Under Scrutiny

Late night comedians broke from the jokes and waded into politics. Trevor Noah, host of "The Daily Show," expressed shock in the shooting. "They say this was the worst shooting in American history, but every shooting is the worst for someone," he said.

Comedian and Las Vegas native Jimmy Kimmel made his point clearly and concisely in a tweet: "There is more we can do, and we need to do it."

Politicians, meanwhile, responded with expressions of grief and frustration over the incident. Many Democrats chimed in with all-too-familiar calls for stricter regulations on firearms. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut who favors gun control, said it was "time for Congress to get off its ass and do something."

In an outdoor news conference, former Democratic Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was grievously wounded in a 2011 attack, turned to the Capitol, raised her fist and said, "The nation is counting on you."

Republicans, who control Congress, have been pushing National Rifle Association-backed bills to loosen restrictions on guns and firearm accessories. When pressed on the matter, GOP lawmakers have tended to say they're focused on mental health reforms.

House Republican leaders called for unity and prayer Tuesday but offered no new legislation to tighten gun laws. House Speaker Paul Ryan said there's no plan to act soon on an NRA-backed bill to ease regulations on gun silencers.

Some information for this story came from the Associated Press.

Correction: This story initially said a security guard was killed at the hotel. He was wounded but not reported to be killed.

Photo by Gregory Bull/Associated Press