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Vegas shooter's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, never expected 'violence' from him: 'I loved him'

Posted at 7:15 PM, Oct 04, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-04 21:17:27-04

Marilou Danley, the girlfriend of the gunman behind the Las Vegas shooting, said in a statement that she was not aware that "something horrible like this was going to happen."

Matthew Lombard, the attorney representing Danley, read a statement Wednesday from her, in which she said she knew Stephen Paddock as a "kind, caring man."

"I loved him and hoped for a quiet future together with him," Danley's statement said. "He never said anything to me or took any that I was aware of that I understood in any way to be a warning ..."

Paddock opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Sunday night, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more. He is then believed to have taken his own life.

Danley's statement added: "It never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone."

More than two weeks ago, Paddock told Danley that he had found a cheap ticket to the Philippines and suggested that she take a trip home to see her family, she said in her statement. She hadn't been to the Philippines since 2014, when she was going through marital problems with her former husband, her brother, Reynaldo Bustos, told ABC News Wednesday from the Philippines.

"Like all Filipinos abroad, I was excited to see family and friends," Danley said in her statement.

While she was there, Paddock wired her money so she could buy a house for herself and her family, Danley said in her statement. Paddock sent tens of thousands of dollars overseas before the shooting, ABC News reported Monday.

"I was grateful, but worried," Danley said, adding that she thought the flight to the Philippines and the money was his way of breaking up with her.

Danley is cooperating with authorities in the investigation, Lombard said. Danley, who said she is a mother and grandmother, asked for privacy for her and her family but offered to do "anything" she could "to help ease suffering" in her statement.

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Danley arrived back in the U.S. from her native country -- the Philippines -- Tuesday night. She was abroad when Paddock carried out his deadly attack.

More than 22,000 were attending the final night of the Route 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas Strip -- across the street from Mandalay Bay -- when the assault began.

The motive for the shooting remains unclear, but police have said it was "obviously premeditated. A total of 47 firearms have been recovered from three different locations associated with Paddock: the Mandalay Bay hotel room, his home in Mesquite, Nevada, and another home in northern Nevada near Reno.