FRIENDS of Australian “person of interest” Marilou Danley say she left the US for the Philippines two weeks before the worst mass shooting in United States history.

The former Gold Coast resident was named by Las Vegas police in the aftermath of the shooting and it’s understood her ID was used to book the Mandalay Bay hotel room from where her partner, gunman Stephen Paddock, opened fire.

Paddock, armed with a high powered automatic rifle, rained bullets down on the crowded Las Vegas strip from his suite on the 32nd floor, killing at least 59 people and injuring 500 more.

media_camera Marilou Danley is a former Gold Coast resident.

Police have since made contact with Ms Danley in the Philippines, where she was born.

The Courier-Mail understands Ms Danley left the home she shared with Paddock in Mesquite, Nevada, to travel to the Philippines about two weeks ago.

The former Gold Coast mother was living with Paddock and understood to be in a relationship with him.

Late on Monday night Danley, an Australian citizen originally from the Philippines, was cleared of any involvement in the massacre after police and the FBI had earlier named her as a ‘person of interest’, only to later discover she was out of the country.

media_camera An undated photo of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock. Picture courtesy of Eric Paddock via AP

Foreign Minster Julie Bishop said Australian authorities had not had contact with Ms Danley.

It’s believed Ms Danley, who lived on the Gold Coast about 20 years ago, is in the Philippines.

“I understand they have ruled her out as a person of interest at this stage,” Ms Bishop said.

“There are reports her ID was used for booking the hotel or some such detail. Australia will support the US authorities in their investigation in whatever way we can, but we have not had contact with Marilou Danley directly.”

Paddock, a Nevada local, killed himself in his room at least half an hour after he opened fire on more than 22,000 concertgoers enjoying the Route 91 Harvest festival about 10pm local time, after SWAT officers blew up his hotel room door.

Police, who last night raided his home, said he was using some of Danley’s identification and had a cache of weapons with him after checking into the luxury hotel on September 28.

media_camera Australian Marilou Danley is believed to be the girlfriend of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock.

Chilling video footage showed the crowd at the ­closing act of the three-day country music festival fleeing hundreds of rounds of automatic gunfire coming from a hotel room above them.

“It was a horror show,” said Ivetta Saldana, who was at the Jason Aldean concert with a friend.

“People were standing around then they hit the floor.”

One police officer was in critical condition and two ­others were feared dead, according to Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardi.

“We believe there is a couple of off-duty ­officers that were attending the concert who may have been killed,” he said.

The Las Vegas Metro Police Department officer’s name was withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Shooting on the Strip - How it Happened. Shooting on the Strip - How it Happened.

One reveller told reporters a woman had come running through the crowd 45 minutes before the first shots were fired screaming “you’re all going to die tonight”.

The gunman fired from a room on the 32nd floor of the 43-storey Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, across Las Vegas Boulevard from the all-ages outdoor concert.

Witness Meghan Kearney said she saw “hundreds of bodies” as she fled shots that “sounded like they were coming from the sky”.

“We heard what sounded like firecrackers going off, like someone setting off a firecracker,” Ms Kearney said.

media_camera Friends say Marilou Danley left the US two weeks ago.

“All of a sudden we heard what sounded like a machine gun and people just started to scream that they were hit and to get down. About 20 seconds after that you’d hear a round of machine gunfire and people just dropping and hundreds of bodies all over the ground.”

Ms Kearney said organisers spoke of there being 30,000 in the crowd. She described the sickening sound of rounds of machine gun fire followed by a break as the shooter reloaded.

“In the moment, it felt like forever, but probably you would hear that around 30 times, of what just sounded like a machine gun, one after another, after another,” she said.

“We finally kind of heard a break and got up and just started running, hoping they were not going to hit us. We just started running and we were able to go into a back ­service door and just hide.

“That’s what we are doing now, hiding in a nearby hotel.”

Las Vegas PD Confirms Suspect Dead in Concert Shooting. Credit - Las Vegas PD via Storyful Las Vegas PD Confirms Suspect Dead in Concert Shooting. Credit - Las Vegas PD via Storyful

Sheriff Lombardi said at least 50 were killed and more than 400 injured.

An off-duty firefighter said he “personally pronounced 20 dead”. “With 30,000 in the arena ... it was like shooting goldfish in a bowl,” he said.

“It’s a sad day for Las Vegas.”

media_camera Marilou Danley.

President Donald Trump tweeted: My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: “Australia mourns with America tonight after the shocking senseless senseless attack in Las Vegas,” he posted on social media.

A triage centre was set up at Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue as dozens were taken by ambulance to the nearby University Medical Centre for treatment.

Planes were diverted from the nearby McCarran International Airport out of concern they would be hit by gunfire, and police closed off 1.5km of Las Vegas Boulevard.

Witnesses said there were many casualties on the grounds of the Mandalay Bay, a four-star, 3309-room hotel at the southern end of the Strip.

Las Vegas is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the US, drawing 40 million visitors from around the world each year.

With the death toll expected to climb, the massacre has superseded the previous record held by the Pulse nightclub terror attack in Orlando, which killed 49.

Originally published as Queensland woman‘s connection to Vegas killer