The Las Vegas shooter would 'lie in bed just moaning and screaming,' girlfriend recalls

A view of the home of the Las Vegas shooter in Mesquite, Nevada.

(Image credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

published 6 October 2017

Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock would "lie in bed just moaning and screaming 'oh my God,'" his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, told investigators, who remain without a satisfying motive for the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history nearly a week after the attack. The former FBI officials who relayed Danley's account to NBC News added that while Danley described "mental health symptoms," authorities do not believe Paddock's health had reached such a state as to satisfyingly explain his horrific actions.

In addition to not understanding what drove Paddock to his attack — which was meticulously planned and perhaps involved scouting possible locations in other states — investigators are trying to learn what the gunman did in the hour between shooting a security guard outside his hotel room and being discovered dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound by a SWAT team. It was unclear how long Paddock had been dead in the room before he was found.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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