Phoenix, AZ. — An Arizona man who says he sold ammunition to Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock — and reportedly was described in police records as a person of interest in the case — is scheduled to speak to reporters Friday morning.
Douglas Haig, whose connection to the investigation came to light this week when hundreds of pages of search warrant records were released to the news media, is expected to hold a news conference in Phoenix with his attorney.
“I’m the guy that sold ammunition to Stephen Paddock,” Haig told CNN affiliate KXNV outside his home in Mesa after the documents came out Tuesday.
Police say Paddock opened fire from Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay hotel onto a crowd attending a music festival below on October 1, killing 58 people and shooting and injuring 422 others. More than 850 others suffered other injuries in the attack.
Authorities have repeatedly said Paddock, who investigators say died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, was the only shooter. Neither Haig nor anyone else has been charged in the case.
But Haig appears ready to discuss publicly what he’s said was his limited interactions with Paddock before the shooting.
“You guys can come and ask me any questions you want,” he told KXNV, referring to Friday’s news conference.
Haig says he sold tracer ammunition to Paddock
A Nevada judge on Tuesday unsealed police search warrant records — prepared shortly after the shooting — that mentioned two persons of interest in the case. One, whom police had named previously, was the killer’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley. Authorities subsequently cleared her publicly.
The second name was redacted. But the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported it had a version of the search warrant that named, without redaction, Haig as that second person. The documents don’t explain why he was a person of interest.
Haig did not respond to CNN calls this week, and Las Vegas police officials told CNN the department couldn’t comment on Haig or any names, and referred questions to federal authorities.
But after the documents’ release, Haig told CBS this week he sold Paddock 720 rounds of tracer ammunition from a business he ran out of his house until a few months ago.
“He told me exactly what he wanted. I handed him a box with the ammunition in it and he paid me and he left,” Haig told CBS, adding he didn’t detect anything odd about Paddock. “He said he was going to go put on a light show. I can’t remember if he said for or with his friends. But that’s what he did say.”
Haig also told Newsweek that agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives interviewed him days after the shooting, and that he said he had nothing to do with the crime.
“I’ve been interviewed, and that’s as far as it went. They were following up on a lead, and obviously it went nowhere,” he told the magazine.
Haig told KXNV that he met Paddock only once, and that he otherwise didn’t know him.
Douglas Haig is the name of a business associate on a website called Specialized Military Ammunition. The website describes itself as “your source for premium, MILSPEC, tracer and incendiary ammunition in popular military calibers,” including ammunition that “ignites diesel and kerosene.”
It’s unclear whether it’s the same person. A message posted on the website says it will be closed indefinitely.
“Check back to see if/when we are up and running again,” the undated message says.
Sheriff has said feds are investigating someone
Clark County District Court Judge Elissa Cadish ordered the documents released after CNN and other media outlets sued to obtain the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department search warrants related to the October shooting.
The judge allowed a small portion of those records to be redacted because “there is an ongoing investigation regarding charges against another individual, arising out of information obtained in connection with the … shooting, but not directly related to the shooting.”
In response to a question from CNN in January, the Clark County sheriff, Joe Lombardo, said federal authorities are investigating a person in the case. That person could face federal charges not directly related to the shooting within the next 60 days, the sheriff said January 19.
Lombardo didn’t disclose the person’s name, saying those details were “under federal grand jury disclosure” rules.
In a move separate from Tuesday, a judge on January 12 released hundreds of pages of federal court documents related to the case, revealing the inner workings of the early stages of the investigation.
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. (Photo: CNN)
