Las Vegas Gunman Told Girlfriend ‘God Doesn’t Love Me’ Prior to Attack, FBI Concludes Investigation

Posted on: January 30, 2019, 05:00h. 

Last updated on: January 30, 2019, 08:05h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

The Las Vegas gunman who murdered 58 people in October of 2017 would often tell his Filipino girlfriend Marilou Danley – a practicing Catholic – “Your god doesn’t love me.”

Las Vegas shooting FBI investigation
FBI Las Vegas head Aaron Rouse says the October 2017 shooter has stumped investigators when it comes to a motive. (Image: David Becker/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Casino.org)

In the FBI’s long-awaited final report released Tuesday, investigators said they didn’t find any religious or political affiliations for Stephen Paddock. And while many details regarding his life and mental state were learned during the nearly 16-month probe, the country’s principal federal law enforcement agency has no definitive motive for his actions.

“Throughout his life, Paddock went to great lengths to keep his thoughts private, and that extended to his final thinking about this mass murder,” the FBI summary stated. “Active shooters rarely have a singular motive or reason for engaging in a mass homicide.”

Along with expressing his religious opinion to his girlfriend, the FBI reports other people who interacted with Paddock in the months before the shooting questioned his mental health. A Reno car salesman who sold him a vehicle said Paddock spoke openly about being diagnosed with depression, but that he didn’t accept prescription medicine.

However, the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Unit, as well as a study of Paddock’s brain conducted by the Stanford Neuroscience Health Center, did not find any irregularities that might have triggered such violent action.   

Complete Story?

Many victims – there were around 900 including the 58 deceased – were hoping for some sort of closure with the FBI report. Las Vegas Metro Police finished its own investigation in August, with Sheriff Joe Lombardo explaining, “We have not been able to definitely answer the why.”

Paddock, in today’s technological world, was able to carry out a horrific massacre and leave no digital trail as to the all-important “why?” The FBI and Metro Police both feel strongly that Paddock acted alone. There are, of course, alternative theories.

Politico ran an article last fall from respected journalist Keith Kloor who wrote about information supplied by two retired CIA and National Security Council agents. The sources said “there’s substantial evidence that ISIS was involved.”

Kloor writes that the two unidentified experts said they belong to a small group consisting of former government intelligence and special operations agents who believe the October 1 massacre “was part of a coordinated anti-Trump plot involving the Islamic State and Antifa, or left-wing ‘anti-fascist.'”

FBI Las Vegas Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse says there’s no coverup.

“It was all about doing the maximum amount of damage and him obtaining some form of infamy,” Rouse told the Associated Press. “This report comes as close to understanding the why as we’re ever going to get.”

Las Vegas Changes

The days of guests being able to hang a “Do Not Disturb” sign on their hotel door in Las Vegas are largely gone. Many casino operators up and down the Strip now require routine inspections to make sure someone like Paddock cannot gather an arsenal of weapons and carry out such an attack.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency concluded in their own report that communications were snarled during the shooting. Police, fire, and medical first responders were overwhelmed with calls and false reports that overloaded radio and telephone systems.

Last year, Larry Barton, a former FBI Academy and US Marshal Service instructor, concluded, “If any city in the world other than New York and Los Angeles should have been prepared, it’s this one. Law enforcement is beating himself up, as it should, because mistakes were made.”