The man identified in unsealed warrant records as a person of interest in the Las Vegas shooting investigation was contacted by reporters back in October, and says he has no connection to the deadly October 1 gun massacre or the shooter Stephen Paddock.

Newsweek reports that the publication interviewed Douglas Haig on October 4, and he confirmed that representatives from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had interviewed him in the immediate days following the shooting.

“They asked me a bunch of questions … and after about 20 minutes they left,” Haig told Newsweek three days after the shooting. “Haven’t heard from them since.”

According to Tuesday’s report in Newsweek, the outlet declined to publish the interview because authorities had not publicly connected Haig to the shooting, and because Haig threatened legal action.

Haig told Newsweek that he had “no link” to Paddock, and that he didn’t understand why he was being questioned.

“I didn’t even know who this guy was,” he reportedly said.

“If I had anything that would help further this or shed light or help explain why this wacko did what he did, I’d be more than happy to tell you.”

As CrimeOnline previously reported, Haig was publicly identified for the first time as a one-time person of interest on Tuesday after a judge unsealed 300 pages of warrants and additional police records connected to the shooting investigation.

Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo confirmed in a news conference earlier this month that authorities were investigating an additional person of interest, but he did not indicate how this person was connected to the investigation and continued to insist that Stephen Paddock acted alone when he fired at a group of 20,000 concertgoers attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival, killing 58 people before he shot himself in his suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

It is not clear if Haig is the person of interest Lombardo was referring to in his most recent press conference.

When a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter contacted Lombardo on Tuesday to ask about Haig, he reportedly told her, “If you’ve got it, publish it.”

An attorney for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department had, largely unsuccessfully, fought a lawsuit brought by multiple news outlets to unseal the records related to their investigation, arguing that it would compromise the federal investigation to publicly identify a person of interest at this time.

According to the Washington Post, Clark County District Court Judge Elissa Cadish confirmed that Haig’s name was meant to be redacted from the unsealed documents released to reporters on Tuesday, but that a clerical error allowed his name to be released. By the time the judge had ordered the media outlets that received the documents not to publish his name, the Las Vegas Review-Journal report identifying him had already been published.

When Newsweek reached Haig by phone on Tuesday, he told them that he “used to sell ammunition reloading components,” but currently works as an aerospace engineer for Honeywell.

“I have a normal 9-to-5 job,” he reportedly said, and has since referred additional questions to his attorney Andrew Marcantel.

Marcantel told Newsweek that the recently unsealed documents connecting his client to the shooting were “old news.” He confirmed that Haig had also been interviewed by the FBI, and said that he has “been 100 percent compliant.”

CrimeOnline will provide additional updates when more information is available.

[Feature image: Associated Press]