THE man responsible for the deadly Manila casino attack was a heavily-indebted Filipino hooked on gambling, and not a terrorist, the country’s police have said.
Police chief Oscar Albayalde said his family confirmed he was Jesse Carlos, a former Finance Department worker.
The family said he was more than £62,000 in debt “due to being hooked in casino gambling”, according to Albayalde.
The police chief said the family’s account corroborated the belief that “this is not an act of terrorism”.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the rampage early on Friday, but video footage bolstered the government’s case that it was a botched robbery by a lone attacker with no known link to terrorism.
Many in Manila had feared it was linked to ongoing battles with militants aligned with Daesh in the southern city of Marawi.
Security cameras caught Carlos casually leaving a taxi and walking calmly into a vast entertainment and gambling complex, before carrying out one of the Philippine capital’s deadliest attacks in years.
Shortly afterwards, he dons a black ski mask, slips on an ammunition vest and pulls an assault rifle out of his backpack at the Resorts World Manila complex.
What followed borders on the surreal: a slow-motion arson attack and robbery so methodical and unhurried, with Carlos appearing to walk much of the way, even as he exchanges fire with a security guard and flees up a stairwell.
At least 37 patrons and employees died, mostly from smoke inhalation as they tried to hide on the second floor. Carlos fled to an adjoining hotel and reportedly killed himself.
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte said the attacker was simply “crazy”. He questioned what he was going to do with the £1.5 million haul of poker chips he had tried to take away.
Although Carlos was well armed there are no confirmed reports that he shot any civilians. Instead, he fired into the ceilings, scattering panicked crowds, some of whom jumped out windows to escape what they believed to be a terror attack. More than 12,000 people were in the complex at the time; most were successfully evacuated.
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