Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo gave his most extensive media interview yet one month after shooting massacre in Las Vegas on October 1.
The sheriff, who has been criticized for the lack of public information about the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history, spoke to Las Vegas news station KLAS on Wednesday, two weeks after his last press conference on October 13, in which he declined to take reporter questions.
Sheriff Lombardo spoke to KLAS reporter George Knapp for two hours in a partially recorded and wide-ranging interview, in which he talked about the continuing investigation into the mass shooting and the efforts of law enforcement to uncover Paddock’s motive.
“We still don’t know what set him off,” Lombardo said, but did point out that Paddock, a very active gambler, had seen a decline in his video poker winnings in the last two years.
“Since September 2015, he’s lost a significant amount of wealth,” Lombardo said. “He was going in the wrong direction,”
“[Paddock] had a narcissistic personality … He was status-driven based on how he liked to be recognized in the casino environment and how he was recognized by his friends and family. That was starting to decline.”he was status-driven based on how he liked to be recognized in the casino environment and how he was recognized by his friends and family — that was starting to decline.”
A neuropathology team at Standord University is in the process of examining Paddock’s brain for any abnormalities that might explain why he brought nearly two dozen guns to his hotel suite at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino and opened fire on a crowd of over 20,000 concertgoers, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more before taking his own life.
“I actually hope we find something in the pathology of his brain,” the sheriff said.
Sheriff Lombardo also said that investigators are still “actively interviewing” Paddock’s girlfriend Marilou Danley, and have another interview scheduled this week. Lombardo said Danley was still a person of interest, but not a suspect, and she is not in custody.
He strongly indicated that he is not convinced Danley is telling investigators everything she knows.
“Personally it’s hard for me to believe that an individual would be able to amass so many weapons with some sort of evil intent … you’d think that Miss Danley would have some information associated with that.”
Lombardo reiterated earlier reports that investigators have not found any links between Paddock and any extremist or religious ideologies that might suggest a motive.
Paddock’s “computer history was non-descript,” Lombardo said.
The sheriff also defended the quick response of law enforcement, and pointed out that Paddock fired 1,000 rounds but had access to 4,000.
“I think we saved thousands of lives,” Lombardo said, adding that he believes Paddock may have considered an escape plan but abandoned it when he realized law enforcement was approaching.
“I honestly believe that he believed the wolf was at the door … and that’s when he made the decision to take his own life.”
The full interview can be seen on LasVegasNow.com.
On Thursday, six media outlets, including the Associated Press and the New York Times, filed a lawsuit against the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for access to public information about the mass shooting, including Paddock’s death certificate, 911 calls, witness interview records, and police bodycam footage.
[Feature image: Associated Press]
